Kalina Ballerina

I'll add a ballet picture when
I get one--my camera was
out of batteries! Until then,
here's our snow fun!

When Kalina began to dance, around the time she learned to walk, it was never the bopping up and down typical toddler dance. It was a somewhat graceful, side to side, back and forth shoulders type of thing. Her very own style.

As time went by, her dancing began to resemble ballet, with an uncanny ability to move with the music, and even keep a sense of rhythm. Much of the time, anyway (silly dancing also came into vogue). Seeing the Nutcracker inspired her further. And we always knew that sometime, she'd really have to take ballet lessons.

What better time than January? We signed up at a local dance studio, bought the necessary attire, convinced Kalina that she could neither eat nor sleep in the necessary attire, and attended the first lesson. I was able to sit in, but only because it's the first class of the month.

From my perspective, there's hardly anything cuter than watching a class of little girls attempt ballet. They were precious. At least mine was, and in the half-dozen times I was able to tear my eyes away from Kalina, I noticed that the others were pretty adorable as well. The mom next to me and I spent lots of the time giggling at the little sweeties--sometimes I wonder how the teacher was able to keep her composure.

From Kalina's perspective, it was a bit of a wonderland. They began by sitting in a circle and telling each other their names (Kalina wasn't the only new girl in the class), their ages and their favorite Disney princess. I secretly patted myself on the back that I'd actually introduced Kalina to the princesses in the past year, so she was able to answer Snow White. (Really, though, I think it's Cinderella, which is also the only movie she's seen.) A brief introduction to preschool girl pop culture paid off.

While the girls did learn a couple French ballet terms, much of the terminology was in Princess, probably to help motivate any girl who wasn't 100% on board. Therefore, their right foot was called their "pink skate" while the left was their "purple skate." A specific arm position was called a basket, and each girl got to tell the teacher what was in her basket (Kalina was not the only girl with kittens in hers--she's in good company). They pretended to be rocketships and elevators (okay, not so princessy, but that's fine--it was going a bit overboard), and could make their legs look like "pink diamonds." They also occasionally sprinkled fairy dust. Truthfully, it was a bit over the top for me, and possibly for Kalina, but the teacher was having fun.

The focus was on fun, but I was also amazed at the regard for rules and general intensity of the class. Even the "rest" time was spent pretending to be various animals. The kids were kept moving, and I think it's only their boundless energy that allowed them to keep up--I wouldn't have done so well. I wonder if one reason was that kids who are busy trying to figure out how to make their arms into "baskets" and "lace up their skates" might be less apt to try to hang from the barre, or tip it over. One girl, at least, looked fully capable.

Kalina smiled the whole time, although I think part of that was because twice during the class the teacher told them to smile and pretended to take their picture. I think Kalina thought they were supposed to keep smiling, which is also the reason she kept her hands in a "basket" for a good three minutes longer than anyone else. That awkward moment when you need to be told, "You can stop doing that now!" Like when your kid uses a sippy cup far longer than anyone else, or you're still cutting Cheerios in half at the ripe old age of 1.

Our little ballerina was pretty tuckered out after her lesson, but managed quite a few enthusiastic smiles while chatting with her teacher afterward. She then refused to change out of her ballet outfit until snacktime, when she had to choose between the two (and snacktime won). Is that the mark of a dedicated ballerina? I'm glad she still opted for a snack!