2011 Dance Costumes and Pictures!

 It was 2011 now and getting close to the Spring Recital.  The costumes had come in and the studio had a day for all the dancers to get their pictures taken.

We were a little worried about Jewelia this year because unlike the old dance studio that let you do your hair however you wanted for the pictures, this dance studio required all girls to have a slicked back bun with no bangs.  It wasn't the bun we were were worried about, but the bangs.  How were we going to get Jewelia's bangs to stay slicked back and not fall down?  

Well, we wet, we combed, we sprayed, we used a lot of gel, and in the end success!

Jewelia looked like such a princess in her ballet costume!  

Micah was 11 now and he had 2 dance costumes.  First, for tap he had a fun baseball costume!

We thought it was great since Micah never liked sports.  To him, dancing was a sport.  In all his school papers when asked what his favorite sport was, he would say dance.  

For Micah's ballet costume, it was a traditional white kind of fancy shirt and some nice black dance slacks.

Here he with Jewelia thinking something must be pretty hilarious!

Here are how their actual dance professional pictures turned out.  

First cute Jewelia:

Then Micah's tap and ballet:

So handsome!  

They both looked great!

We couldn't wait for the Spring Recital!

The New Dance Studio

   Micah and Jewelia had started at a new dance studio this year.  Jewelia was 5 years old and Micah was almost 11.  We hoped that the new studio would be able to better instruct Micah in ballet as a boy and that Jewelia would learn a little more dance steps and be challenged more with better choreography.

Right before Christmas they allowed the parents to come into the classroom to watch.  

Jewelia was doing much more than last year.  Her class even had a Christmas dance prepared.  

She is the one with the light pink leotard.

Micah was learning all sorts of new moves, and it was nice, because his ballet class had 2 other boys besides him.

Micah was also taking tap.  They were practicing a number for the Spring recital that involved baseball bats.

He still was pretty awesome at his spin tapping:

They were going to dance to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  Here they are working out the first section of their dance:

Micah Wins in Dance Choreography at School!

At the kids' elementary school they have a program called "Reflections" where the kids can compete in different categories in the arts. They have a literature category, music composition, photography, art, and dance choreography category. Micah decided to enter in dance choreography and see if he could place.

He was 10 years old and in 6th grade now, and he decided to come up with a tap dance. In order to compete he had to come up with choreography to a dance and video it.

First, he had to pick a song to dance to. He chose a song by ColdPlay called Viva La Vida. We took the words out, and recorded it only with instrumentals. Then Micah began working on his dance. Soon, he was already to perform it and we videoed him so he could turn it into the school.

Here he is dancing on the stage at church.



He did pretty good, and it isn't often you see an entry in dance from a boy, so Micah ended up getting a prize! I think he took 3rd place in his age category.

He even got a medal!

The Decision to Change Dance Studios

Micah and Jewelia were having a lot of fun at their dance studio, but when the year was over and the new schedule came out for the following year, it just wasn't workable. Too many days, classes spaced too far apart. We didn't want to live in the van in between classes, and we didn't want to drive back and forth.

Plus, it seemed as if Micah wasn't advancing too much in his ballet class any more. Did this studio really know how to work with boys?

So, we began the search for another dance studio.

We came across another studio just up the street. We checked it out and found that not only did they have some other boys who danced there, but they even had men teachers! Their schedule seemed to work great. It had Micah's level class at the same time as a class for Jewelia, and so we were sold! We had Micah come and try out some of the classes and he was ready to go.

For the first time, Micah would be in ballet class with 2 other boys! He was still the only boy in tap, but he didn't really care. Jewelia decided to take only ballet, claiming her feet hurt when she tapped. She would take a class with girls 5-8 years old.

Micah and Jewelia's 2010 Dance Recital

The big night had arrived and Jewelia and Micah were excited to perform in their spring dance recital! Lots of friends and family came to watch!

Here is Grandma and Aunt Summer, some of their biggest fans!

First was Micah in his tap number. This turned out a little difficult for Micah because all during practice they had him pretending to hold a horn, but when the dance recital came, they gave him a huge heavy antique trumpet to carry and dance with. This made things a little harder on Micah since he wasn't used to the weight and size. He still did alright though.

Next was Jewelia's dance. There wasn't much to this dance. For some reason her teacher was never there most of the month and always had a substitute for dance classes. This caused Jewelia's dance to not have much variety since they didn't practice it very often. Even though it lacked choreography, Jewelia did a good job at her first tap dance.



Last came Micah's ballet dance. Still the only boy, most of the dancing came from the girls circling around him, but Micah was great and very handsome.



They both did great and we all celebrated after the recital by getting icecream shakes.

Dance Costumes 2010

Jewelia was almost 5 years old now and this was her 2nd year of dance classes. Micah had just turned 10 and was going on his 3rd year of dance. They were excited when the costumes came in for their Spring recital.

Jewelia was going to be in a tap number with this snazzy outfit.

Micah was to be in a ballet dance with his blue outfit above, and also a tap number dressed as an army guy below.

Micah in the 2009 Nutcracker

December of 2009, Micah finally got to perform in the professional ballet production of the Nutcracker downtown. It was very exciting. He had been going to rehearsals for a long time.

Micah played the part of a party boy in the sailor family. He did very well. Although we have some professional pictures of his costume and with the cast, we aren't allowed to post them due to us signing a contract with the ballet company, so if you really want to see them you'll have to ask Micah to show you them himself.

He had a great time, and many friends and family came out to see him perform.