Dance!

On Tuesday, March 9th, Brooklyn started her first dance class. We enrolled her through the Granite Peaks Lifelong Learning program. For those that live in the Granite district, it's the booklet you get in the mail every few months. Most of the classes are for adults or for people who need to finish their High School education. However, in the back, there is information on classes for kids. I always look through this book when it comes and I've always thought it would be fun to enroll Brooklyn in a class. I just didn't want anything else to try to juggle in my life so I kept putting it off. Finally, I decided to do it and I haven't regretted it one bit.
Brooklyn has absolutely loved dance! I wasn't sure if she would, but she's thrived really well in this class. It's only a 6-week course for 3-5 year old kids teaching them the basics of dance. I thought it would be the perfect environment for Brooklyn to try it out. She has loved it and has improved so much over the past 4 weeks. I can really see the difference. I thought I would post some pictures of the first few weeks for all to enjoy. We go to class at Kearns High School every Tuesday from 4:30-5:15 pm.
The class information said that no special clothing or shoes were required so we were a little surprised to find all but one other girl dressed in dance clothes when we arrived. Brooklyn is the one in purple pants (her favorite right now) and a black shirt. This is the first class.
A friend of Brooklyn's had given her a leotard and tutu for her birthday, but we didn't wear it the first day of class thinking she would look silly if no one else was dressed that way. So we made sure to wear what we had during the next class.
We bought her some footless tights (just like her cousin Dani) and she was ready to dance!
As customary for my daughter, she has attached onto one girl. This is Sienna. I know nothing else about her besides her name and that my daughter finds comfort in following her around. Brooklyn has always done this. She picks one friend and attaches to that friend. Preschool has helped her branch out a little more, but she does have her favorites there. I don't really understand why she does this, but I'm happy she can find someone that brings her comfort and makes it so she's excited to go to class and doesn't run to me every 5 minutes (like a few girls do). I just hope Sienna doesn't mind Brooklyn being attached to her hip!
Kicks! Sorry, the lighting is horrible in this dance room.
Warming up. They spend the first 5 minutes stretching. Then the next 25 minutes learning and practicing certain dance moves. Then the last 15 minutes they practice a dance they will be performing on April 13th. I had no idea there would be a performance at the end of this class, but it's fun for the girls.
Eliza wants to go out and dance too. She's hard to keep under control some days (especially today!).
I thought the tutu was adorable, but not very practical and hard to really move in. So we then invested in this dance skirt. It worked out because she needs a pink skirt for her "costume" for her performance. Now she's already to go.
I must mention a few things: I really didn't like the teacher when I first watched the class. I still don't love her, but she's grown on me a little. She doesn't communicate very well with the parents and often expects you understand everything. However, she has taught Brooklyn and I imagine it can be very frustrating trying to get 13 little girls to listen to you.
My other grip with this class is that it appears we came into part 2 of a dance class. The first day of class she was teaching the end of the dance they were learning. There were other new students, but I don't know why they didn't mention this in the manual. I probably would have waited for Brooklyn to start at the very beginning so she had the same amount of time to learn this dance as every else.
On a positive note. I love that Brooklyn has a venue to get out some of her energy. She loves to run around and dance. She sleeps really well on Tuesday nights. :) I love that she's learning new things and enjoying herself. She dances more at home and practices her new "moves". I'm glad I waited until Brooklyn was 4 to enroll her because I don't think she would have done as well at 3. I think preschool has been a good experience and can now listen and follow instructions from others better.
In two weeks, we get to try something new. 6 weeks of tumbling! I originally thought she would love tumbling more than dance, but now I'm worried that she will want dance back. It's a new class so hopefully she finds a friend. Then after that, we will have to decide what she likes better and enroll her in a longer class somewhere else.