Monday, October 24, 2016

Ballet Observation

First things first:  Madison won the spelling bee in her classroom.  After a few pretty good practice sessions, Madison was on her way to school this morning still spelling out words like "complaints" and "timidly" and "gallant."  There were a few tricky ones on the list, but after a lot of practice last night, once last week and a bunch this morning, she felt she was ready.  And really, when it came down to it, it was a breeze.

She was very nervous, of course.  She got the word "lantern" early, and that was throwing her in practice a few times.  She kept spelling it "lanturn."  But she kept at it, and when all was said and done, she did the best in her class with the spelling list.

Now this is just the spelling bee for her class.  I think it goes on to the grade level next, so we'll see how that goes.  Regardless, she did well and we're very proud of her of course.  She was happy too, talking about it when she got home off of the bus.

This afternoon was our monster dance jam session, that is to say it is the time where Madison dances from 4:15 to about 6:30.  This time, however, parents and family were encouraged to sit in and watch as well.  So this time, Mommy and Daddy didn't go off grocery shopping or whatever - we sat in on two consecutive dancing classes to watch and see what Madison has learned thus far.  First, there was jazz dancing.


This was our first time seeing Madison attempt anything related to jazz dancing.  Now we know she's a little more familiar with 80's music, including Bananarama and Madonna's "Vogue."  That latter song was her warm-up song, where the kids stretched and moved around a bit.  Don't just stand there, let's get to it:  strike a pose, there's nothing to it.


Madison did well with dance, and seems to really love it.  And she has friends there - they smile and laugh during the choreography, particularly during the harder bits that sort of stretch the muscles more than one wants.



After jazz, the kids and the parents went across the hallway to ballet class, which today seemed to involve more work on the bars than anything.



There's a little song the kids sing while going through the different positions on the bar.  It's cute hearing all the little girl voices singing along as they go through their routine.  Madison did well here, and is showing improvement in many areas, really maturing quite a bit.



There is still plenty to learn though.  She has the mathematics and mechanics down well enough, so I think the next thing we work on with her is the fluidity and grace of it all.  Her posturing is good, and she seems well disciplined in class as well, ready to jump to whatever position the teacher requires.


It's always a treat to see your daughter dance.  We've been very much blessed.  After ballet, we drove home, and there's never too much time on Mondays after dancing.  We popped in "Toy Story of Terror," and had dinner on the couch.  Daddy got these tv trays from Disney Movie Rewards, these "Frozen" themed trays that we couldn't wait to try out.  So there we were on the couch, with these trays and plates on top of them, munching our dinner as we watched television.

Tonight before bed, we prayed and read from our devotional, and of course read from the third book in the "QwikPick Adventure Society" series.  The society is off and going on another quest, this one quite unusual.  And that's saying a lot.  Nevertheless, the three of us are enjoying it... for now!

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