Micah's 2011 Ballet Open House

Micah began another year of ballet classes.  In December, the parents were allowed to come in to see their progress.  Micah proved to be doing well.

                                

There was one other boy in their class and they both seemed to do well.

Why, Micah had no problems keeping up with those girls.

Macey Officially Starts Dance Class

While Macey was so afraid of going to dance class at her first attempt, we enrolled her in Preschool and she began to open up.  She became a little less timid and afraid of others, so we decided to try dance class once again.  This time it would be a different dance class, a local community class where she could learn tap and ballet.  

She was excited once again, but we were still wondering if she would actually go inside this time.  

She was a little nervous, but she went in!  She didn't cry, and she tried to do what the teacher asked.

She was a little wobbly at first.

But then she started to get the hang of it.

Pretty soon she was going all out.

Here's a few video clips of her first dance experiences:

Hmmm.....maybe she'd get it.....

Here's another cute one:

   

Too Scared to Dance

This is Micah and Jewelia's little sister.  Her name is Macey and she has watched her big brother and sister dance since she was a little baby.  She loved to dance around and imitate them, so when the time came that she was 3 years old, we decided to enroll her in a dance class.

She was so excited to get all dressed up in her pink leotard and skirt and get her hair put in a bun.  She was prepared with her dance backpack and new ballet shoes, but when the time came for class, Macey wouldn't go in.  

She was afraid to dance in the room with strange kids and a teacher she didn't know.  She wouldn't go.  She clung to my leg and cried and refused to go to class.  So, as dance class went on without her, she watched the monitors from the lobby and danced in the waiting room.  

So, she liked to dance in the waiting room, but she didn't like to dance in the dance class room.  Maybe she was too young.  We let it go, and decided to try again when she was older. 

2011 Dance Recital

The time had finally come for Micah and Jewelia's Spring Dance Recital.  Of course, I guess it really wasn't Spring, it was the middle of June.  We shall call it the "End of the Season Dance Recital".  

Micah and Jewelia were all dressed up fancy for the big day.  The day before they had dress rehearsal to practice.  I think most of the pictures and video I took from that, but the rehearsal came pretty close to the real thing.  They both did great!

Here is Micah rehearsing on stage in his ballet number:

Here is Jewelia posing before her number:

First Micah did an awesome tap dance.  He is such a great tapper!  We loved every minute of it!

Then here is Jewelia in her ballet dance!  If you look at this dance compared to the one she did last year at the old studio, you will see HUGE differences!  This one had such better choreography and demanded a little more from the dancers.  She was so cute!  (Oh, if you are wondering, she is the one second from the left.)

Last there was Micah's ballet number.  Let me tell you how impressed we were with Micah's improvement since the parent watch night in December!  It was incredible!  Micah was so awesome and did so well!  We were so proud!  (He is the boy on the right.)

It was a wonderful evening and they did so well!  We were all so very proud!

Good job fabulous dancers!

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!