Ella's School Days: Ella's First Dance Class

Ella started dance class about 8 weeks ago. I WAITED to enroll her in something like this till she asked me to. I didn't want to push dance on her just cause she is a girl and then have her hate it. But she was dancing a lot at home and one day she said Mommy I want to go to dance school. I said ok, let's go! And I signed her up right away! I looked at the dance schools and wasn't impressed. Once again the City of Chandler came through for me and they have a dance program that goes in 8 week increments. So if you sign your child up and they hate it, you didn't lose much. I also liked that the kids learn mini routines in each class and then get up on stage at the end of each class and perform for the Moms and Dads in the crowd. Then there is one big show on the last class. This is great cause at this age the goal is really not to so much teach dance technique (although they do) but to get the kids comfortable taking instructions, practicing discipline and listening and not being afraid of performing in front of people or on stage. They get this every week! How cool is that? (Just imagine those parents that shelled out all the big money only to have their dancer FREEZE on stage or worse cry and be unable to perform... eek!)

I took a bunch of photos over the last few weeks of classes that I will share here. Some of them are dark and blurry cause the lighting in there was terrible. There are lots of photos from the first class *that was the only one Moms were allowed in. Then all the other classes we are only invited in at the end to see our angels perform on stage. Ella missed one class due to her sisters 1st Birthday party and then missed one more when I forgot what day it was and took her to McDonald's to play with friends instead. Whoops! But she LOVES it! She has so much fun. I have to say there is something so cute about seeing 10+ 3 year old girls all giggling jumping and twirling in their tutus!!

Not only have I overcome my hatred of pink and of bows but I am starting to fall in love with tulle! Yeah for Mommy!! Enjoy the photos!

Below is a hilariously cute video montage of Ella in dace class and during a few of the recitals. A few great moments to look for...

*in the first clip you see Ryen trying to crawl over to join the dance class and me trying to call her name to stop her.
*in the next clip the cutest little blonde girl with pigtails EVER just falls over to end that segment. Hilarious!
*in the next clip nothing too funny but if you are trying to find Ella she is in the front row all the way at the end
*in the next clip my monster is clearly on a sugar high and making me so proud by growling at the audience repeatedly. Yeah for me... NOT!
*in the next they are all playing freeze dance which Ella has never played and Ella clearly doesn't understand why the music keeps stopping! And so she keeps asking "Where'd the music go?"
*in the last clip Ella yells out Hi Ryen! Hi Momma!! awww... sigh

Enjoy this short video. It is worth every minute!