The Tuesday after her recital, I was back at the studio ready to sign the Munch up for another 8 week session...But then the guy at the reception desk looked at me with this big smile and asked what I was doing there. Turns out, the Munch's teacher didn't teach during the summer, a little fact she'd failed to mention to any of the parents of her students. I could sign the Munch up for the summer with the other teacher on Saturday mornings, but that was my only option there, and I already knew that was out of the question. Early Saturday mornings all through the summer?? No. I declined politely, we left...
And then I had to go find a new studio...
Turns out, teachers who teach *actual* ballet to little ones who (in the case of some of the Munch's former classmates) aren't even 3 yet, is a rarity. As in, I think I found the *only* teacher who does that in the city, unless you go to, say, Joffrey. I called around to various studios, looked others up online to find out class descriptions, and all of them told me, 'oh, we just do creative movement with our 3-year-olds. Real ballet is too hard for them.' And then suddenly the summer sessions were in full swing, and we weren't in any of them. We went without ballet for the summer...A very tragic thing for a little girl who loves to twirl, but at least we had plenty of other things going on to distract us. Still, it was missed.
Toward the end of Summer I tried again, and was getting the same frustrating results, even for 4-year-olds. I wasn't about to pay money for something less than what I'd had, and to top it off, when I looked up our old studio, I found that the Munch's former teacher wasn't on the roster for the fall. Guess she's moved on...she does live in Indiana, so I can't really blame her. Still. More disappointment.
But then I looked up a music school that's about 15 minutes away from us (a good 10 or more minutes closer than our old studio, which makes a huge difference in this city!). Turns out, they have dance classes too, including, (HURRAH!!), 3 and a half to 5 year old *actual* ballet! Even better, for weekly 45 minute sessions that run all the way up to Christmas, I paid considerably less than what I'd paid for the shorter sessions...and the recital in December will be free, instead of the $15 per audience member that her first one was. Whether her costume will be included in the class price remains to be seen though. ;) The woman who signed us up assured me that the class I wanted had a great teacher who would absolutely be teaching the kids what I was looking for, so I was full of anticipation for that first class, which occurred in the week before her birthday. The Munch was, quite naturally, beside herself with excitement.
All ready to go, with a new leotard to boot! Per the new teacher's rules, she's only allowed pink or black, so alas, we had to say goodbye to the pretty purple leotard...at least for class use.
Notice the color of the one she chose... ;)
But then Teacher announced that the first thing they were going to do was set the hula hoops in a circle and dance around in them to a song called 'I'm going to catch you', or something along those lines. The Munch is just...just NOT a fan of chasing or tag or anything of that nature. She immediately got a very concerned look on her face and informed her teacher of such, and she flatly refused to participate in that activity, either that week or the next. Not the most auspicious of beginnings. She's gradually gotten better in the class, but it took us a really long time... First it was that activity; then the bow on her leotard came apart in class and was a major distraction; then the teacher kept making disparaging remarks about 'Target' leotards for a good 3 weeks, which did not impress me, since most of our leotards are very nice hand-me-downs from Target that are perfectly suitable, and we weren't the only ones using that brand anyway; then the Munch didn't get the concept of standing in line to wait her turn and had a bit of a meltdown when she missed out on something...I was starting to wonder if this was the right class for her after all. But finally, finally, last week, the teacher said she'd done very well, and this week was more of the same good news. Goodness knows we'd been working on everything (including how to stand in line by using stuffed toys) for long enough! Also last week, she made a friend in her class, a little girl who turns 4 this Saturday. Maybe that's part of what helped her out, too. I and this little girl's mama exchanged phone numbers yesterday, so now the friendship is officially official, right? ;)
And today we received an email from the teacher that had a video of her and the girls practicing their recital piece. I can see a little of why the Munch connected so well with this other child--one part of the piece has them 'singing' into their pretend microphone (a fist held to their mouth), and only she and that little girl are actually doing that part when the teacher says. But yay for a video! Now we have something extra special to practice every day. Much fun! And, incidentally, her plies and passes have gotten MUCH better from last year already...She's just a natural-born dancer, what can I say? :D
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