Okay, I know they’re not really pointe shoes…but it made a cute title 🙂

 

My darling daughter is such a klutz. I mean really, really klutzy. She trips and falls just while standing and is constantly falling off chairs. But when she dances, she has grace and poise.

                    

This last spring we enrolled her in a fantastic ballet program. I asked Madeleine’s friend’s mom where Halle goes to ballet and enrolled Madeleine in her same class. Little did I know that Barlow Arts Conservatory is very esteemed and has a great program. They have received numerous awards for being an outstanding dance studio and many of their students earn full-tuition scholarships to universities. Some have even gone on to study in New York. So, yeah, pretty fabulous.

Back to Madeleine…so I enrolled her in the pre-ballet class on Thursday mornings and bought her the gear. She loved her class! She loved being in it with Halle and made other new friends. She really loved Miss Jenny.

Madeleine was able to perform in  the spring recital Peter Pan. There were quite a few practices, dress rehearsals, and a photo shoot leading up to the big day and I thought it was a little overwhelming for a 4-year-old but when we saw the production we were blown away. The dancers were amazing! I was thoroughly impressed by how good they were for young girls. They really did look professional. It took place at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo.

As for Madeleine, I couldn’t have been more proud. She was darling!! She knew her dance and performed with beauty. She was so happy and loved every minute of it.

The last class of the semester was open for the parents to come and watch and take pictures. It was fun to see but Madeleine seemed bored and tired the whole time. She was yawning constantly. I later discovered that she was becoming sick, so that explained a lot.

 

The fall semester starts next week and Madeleine was offered to skip a level of classes! Here’s the email I received:

Dear Dancer,
Thank you so much for interest in Fall Classes at the Barlow Arts Conservatory for our 2012-2013 Season. We were very pleased with your dancing and are happy to offer you a position in our level 1 class next year.
Tues. 5:30-6:30 Ballet
Thurs. 5:30-6:30 Ballet
Not everyone moved into Level 1 only the dancers that I felt had the focus to handle 2 hours a week versus 1.

Wow! That is impressive! I was so happy for Madeleine! This did give me a decision to make, though. I had only planned on Madeleine trying out ballet for one semester and then moving on to something else next year. Nate will be starting soccer in the fall and I don’t really care to have 2 soccer commitments and 2 ballet commitments every week. They are just little kids and I am just a lowly mom who likes things calm and to have family dinner every night and wants my kids to try a variety of things before we commit so much time and money into something. But she is obviously good and does enjoy it. There was the option to keep her back a level which only meets once a week but in the end, Rob and I decided that she’s only four and we just don’t have the money to keep all our kids in activities all the time.

So I think for fall I will be giving Madeleine piano lessons. She enjoys that, too. It’s a skill that has blessed me my whole life and I think it would be great to pass that on to her. Fewer and fewer people are learning how to play and I think it will be in high demand by the time Madeleine is older. There’s always the option to put her back in ballet at a later time.

I’m glad Madeleine was able to do ballet. She gained confidence, had fun, and really has beautiful lines. I love seeing her straight legs and pointed toes. If anyone in the Lehi area is interested in enrolling their child in ballet, I highly recommend Barlow Arts Conservatory. 

If you want to see more pictures or the videos, here’s the link.