Jewelia Finishes Up Community Dance

Although Micah had an awful experience with the local community dance class, his sister Jewelia enjoyed it, so we decided to finish up the year.

She had fun being a dancing princess.

Starting the next dance season, we would keep both Micah and Jewelia in Micah's dance studio a little farther away from home. It seemed more professional, and I think they taught more things.

Micah's 2nd Year of Tap

Micah started his 2nd year of tap classes and he started to learn more steps. He had a very small class, as people kept on moving or some would just not come.

Here he is starting to learn their recital dance:



He also began learning how to tap and spin.

It made him a bit dizzy!

Micah's 2nd Year of Ballet

While we tried out the local community dance place and they treated Micah awful, we decided to keep him at his old dance studio where the classes were small and they were a lot nicer.

The first year he was in a combined tap, ballet, and jazz class, but now he was in a 2 separate classes; one for tap and one ballet. They called this "Level 1 Ballet" and Level 1 Tap".

He seemed to favor ballet more than tap, which surprised me a little.

He was still the only boy, in fact, he was the only boy in the entire studio, but he didn't care.

Here is a video of his work at the bar:

And here is another of him learning a new move. I think it is funny how he keeps leaping, smiling at the camera even after he reaches the other side and there is no where to go.

It was almost April now, and they began learning the dance they would perform for the end of the season recital. Here is a bit of what they were working on:

Jewelia Starts a New Dance Class

While Jewelia was doing well at the local dance class for her first try at dance, we decided since it didn't work out for Micah, that we would take her to dance at the studio where Micah actually enjoyed dancing. So, not a big deal, but a little frustrating

trying to get things organized.

Jewelia didn't care so much. She mostly just loved having different princess dance outfits to wear.

We started her in a new class in January of 2009. It was a much smaller class with only about 6 girls.

It was probably better that it was small, as these girls mostly just stared or cried during class, as you can see from some of the following videos.

As you see here, she is the only one dancing! I think it is hilarious!

They started learning a dance routine for the spring recital, and Jewelia picked it up really well. We were glad she wasn't shy about dancing!

First Christmas Recital

December 2008, Micah was 8 years old and almost been dancing for a year. He got to perform in his first Christmas dance recital.

He was to dress up like snowman and dance to "Frosty the Snowman" for tap class.

And he would be dressed up as a reindeer to dance to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
Sorry, no pictures of him in his reindeer costume, but it was similar to his classmates costume in the picture below.

He did alright, although during the reindeer dance his antlers broke off and were hanging there like dog ears, so that posed as a bit of a distraction.

Trying Out a New Dance Place

Micah was doing pretty well dancing at the studio he was at, but we wondered if we could find something a little more local. But, at the same time, we didn't want to give up his place in the studio he was at, so we decided to do double-time. He stayed in his old dance classes, but on Fridays, he began going to a local dance studio to see if it was as good.

Well, this place was a little picky, and they wouldn't allow him to be in any class except for very beginning dance because he had never danced with them before. So, he did, but he already was far advanced and pretty bored. They didn't care though. They decided to do some sort of country line dance for their Christmas recital, which wasn't really ballet or tap.

Micah tried hard, but it was hard to be in 2 dance studios. There was one day that he had to miss class and the new studio decided to change around his whole routine the day before the recital and it left Micah in a mess. Here he had worked so hard and then they changed everything on him the night before recital and there was no way for him to figure it out with only a dress rehearsal left. He was so upset for the recital although he did the best he could with what they had done to change all his parts.

So, anyway, so sad we couldn't find something local, but Micah ended his short trial with the community dance place and went back to the old. He did look cute in his sparkly sequenced vest though.

Jewelia's Dancing

Jewelia was loving her first dance class. She loved to be a princess ballerina, and she loved to tap. Here are a few thoughts and dance moves from Jewelia: