This year, Fiona and Genevieve were in the same class to help cut down on driving back and forth into town.
Ballet:
Tap:
They are beautiful girls and talented dancers! It must be really frustrating to be a dance teacher. You spend all year teaching a dance and the girls still don't have it memorized by recital night. Except one girl does have most of it memorized with perfect timing, so she looks like she is the only one doing something wrong-which gets her perfectionist gene fuming.
This was my first time using my amazing camera for video. I borrowed a tripod from someone on the KP and my zoom lens since I had to stand way in the back. Sometimes the camera had trouble focusing and the girls are blurry. I always have mixed feelings about recording the girls' dances. On the one hand, there are so many people who miss the girls' recital because of camping trips and travel distance. But on the other hand, I would really like to just sit and watch them perform for once and not have to worry about camera settings or other people's kids knocking the tripod over.
I've listed the videos as unlisted on YouTube. The only way to view them is to have the link. Because the videos have other children in them, please don't forward links to people. I'll be removing them after a week.
First up is Fiona's class. She is in a class with five other homeschooled girls. The first video is her ballet dance and the second is her tap. She has a solo in her tap dance!
Evie participated in two classes this year! She was signed up for only one class, but since she had to sit through Boy Scout meetings every week, Ms Julie invited Evie to participate in the jazz class free of charge. The jazz classes are more advanced and Evie is the youngest in her class. The song and moves are a bit....mature for a nine year old.
Evie's Jazz: True Colors Look for her beautiful fan kick! There was supposed to be a part where Evie was lifted in the air by her classmates, but Ms. Julie was worried she would get hurt and changed the choreography at the last minute.
Evie received a lot of compliments on her ability to remember four different dances learned in just five months of class. She has learned to feel the music and know when certain steps go with certain parts, instead of just doing the steps while the music plays in the background. Her timing is amazing although she does make a few mistakes-but that is fine with me!
Evie and Fiona had their end of the year dance recital last night. I do love our little dance school! The teacher is so mellow and really encourages each girl to do her best, no matter what her ability. As everyone already knows, this year hasn't been our easiest. I normally love sitting in the girls' classes and watching them learn and practice. Last year worked out well for me because it was easier to keep Daniel busy and Lula was the baby on my lap. This year, it was three against one so Mark usually took the girls to class. I didn't see Evie's dance until the recital and boy, was it great!
This first video is Evie's ballet dance. Both her dances have a patriotic theme. When I first saw which costume her teacher picked for her class, I was a bit disappointed. The whole point in ballet recitals is to wear the poufyest tutu and the sparklyest crown. But a sailor suit? It's a good thing I didn't influence Evie's opinion with my own. She loves it and plans to wear it for Halloween. And once I saw it on her and saw her dance, I changed my mind! I loved it! Evie is the girl on the far left that is the first to cross to the right side of the screen:
The second (and third) video is Fiona's ballet dance. She is the second smallest in her class because she (and two other girls) just moved up to the ages 5-7 class this year. She is second from the right. I had to record her dance in two parts since naughty Heidi was trying to grab the camera with her new found reaching skills! Luckily, Mark rescued me halfway through.
Next up is Evie's tap dance. Love, love, love her tap dance. If I would have known that they were doing a little tappy march with salutes, I totally would have given her a little heart tattoo on her arm. Evie has the best timing, the best rhythm, and never misses a step. My little daughter is perfect! She is pretty hard to spot at first, but is mostly in the center of the screen. After the big move to a single line, she is third from the right.
Fiona had a harder time with her tap dance. She could "feel" the ballet music and knew when to do what step, but the tap song sounded too much the same to her and she got lost a lot. I do like, however, that when she decided to go with a routine, she did it with enthusiasm. If she kicked, she kicked. If she flap-tapped, she flap-tapped! The best part (and quite possibly the most painful) was watching the girls watch each other to see what to do next. Fiona was not the only girl to get lost, that's for sure! I think if I ever had to torture, say, a couple of older brothers or maybe a terrorist, I would tape their eyelids open and make them watch little girls tap dance. Just sayin' *wink* Fiona is second from the right and sometimes gets behind the only girl shorter than her. Heidi managed to affect the quality of this recording too, but this time with her rocking back and forth to music skills.
All in all, the night went well. It was so nice to have my parents and sister come out and see the girls dance! They felt so loved! And it was awesome to have the extra hands when it came time to get Lula and Daniel out to the playground to burn off some energy along with their cousin.
Evie really impressed me this year with her dancing. When the girls first started practicing, she couldn't remember any of the steps for ballet or tap and needed to be in the back row so she could watch the girls in front of her. In her tap dance, as of Tuesday, she was still on the very end of the line next to the curtain. But when she just rocked the complicated steps, her teacher moved her front and center! Wow! Of course, none of the girls are perfect, but they did great!
Evie's tap dance was the first on the program. They had to restart three times due to technical difficulties. Daniel needed a restart too. When the camera is shaking, he is trying to climb up into my lap. I try to push him off my baby belly and hiss, "Get him off me!" to Mark. Daniel started to cry loudly (good thing the music is louder) and Mark had to carry him out. Ian and Shane blessed us with babysitting at the playground, so Mark and I were able to enjoy the girls' dance recital with no babies!
Fiona's class is called Intro to Dance and they performed three numbers: tap, hip hop, and ballet. The great thing about going to class and watching the girls practice is knowing when they don't do the dance right. The other moms and I have our giggles in the audience and everyone claps madly, because who doesn't love a preschooler in a tutu?
I'm currently uploading the recital videos to You Tube because they are too large to post here. Tomorrow I will have links for you, so in the meantime, enjoy these beautiful girls!
Fiona was a super-star today! First we went to her dance class where she started learning her recital dance for June's performance. She gets to stand in the front of the group for the tap portion (get ready for some cuteness!):
Evie made the movie and DANIEL provided the naughty sound effect. It was completely unrelated to the dance because he was facing me. I gave him a little cheek squeeze and told him he was being naughty. He said, "I'm passing gas noise!" So ignore Daniel and watch how cute Fiona was...until we got in the car, ran some errands, and headed home. Then she said, "I'm a sweetheart, but Daniel's a sweet FART!" UFF DA! I said to her! "Well, Dad says it!" Just because we hear Daddy say something does not mean you should repeat it!
When we were unloading the car, Fiona dropped a gallon of milk, right on the carpet! The jug burst open and spilled everywhere! She ran outside crying to tell me, but Ian was quick to respond and got the milk into the sink and was running down the hall with a stack of towels by the time I got inside. We soaked up the spilled milk, I told Fiona not to cry over the spilled milk, and then we had to steam clean. Once upon a time, I couldn't possibly get anything done while I had babies awake, and I certainly couldn't do anything while they were asleep either because I might wake them up.
What was I thinking? It's easy to steam clean with a baby on the floor!
Evie started her dance class today as well! She is so graceful and so strong. People were amazed that today was her first day. I'd like to take credit for her phenotype, but she doesn't resemble me in any way.
I just had a big goofy grin on my face for the whole class. I can't wait for next Tuesday!
These blurry pictures show that Fiona started dance class today!
She has been so excited. This girl has been showing off her Nutcracker dance to anyone who will watch it. Yesterday she created a jumping/kicking/stomping dance that looked like a four years old's interpretation of Irish dancing.
When I showed her what real Irish dancing looked liked, she nearly swooned. Not because of the jumping, etc, but because the DRESSES were so PRETTY and SPARKLY. She couldn't even choose which one was her favorite. And the CURLS and the MAKEUP! Oh my, I think her little girl head was going to explode.
Fiona's dance class is a mixture of ballet, tap, and creative movement (aka acting like animals). She LOVES the tap dancing! The teacher told me Fiona did very well for her first day and she is a natural. I know she is a natural performer (people say she gets it from me) and I can't wait to watch her in future classes.
