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Celebrate! Dance Season 2016-17

Another year of dance is in the books. Kenzie's second year of dance is officially over after this weekend. Kenzie performed in her second recital, Celebrate!, (if you don't count the Christmas "recital" that the studio does in December) with Kidz Dance. This year she took a Pre-School 2 level class. It was (again) a combo class of ballet, tap, and tumbling.


Her final class was this last week. Her class was a little different than normal. They did their usual warm ups and then were given their season trophies that they get every year. My favorite part of the entire thing was that all the parents (and siblings) get to go into the studio to take pictures and what not. Will watched the entire trophy process for a while and then (very seriously) looked at me and said, "Mommy. Please hold my pouch. I need to get my trophy." Hahahahaha! Killed me. (That might be the toddler equivalent of "Hold my beer.") He was perfectly fine though not getting one. He was able to hold Kenzie's through the rest of the class (at which time he held it up and kept bowing and saying, "Thank you! Thank you!" which made the other parents crack up too). Then the girls rehearsed their recital dance before going into the big girls' room to practice. This is a larger studio and towards the end of the season all the kids go in and rehearse in front of one another. It gives them a chance to practice with an "audience" that consists of the other teachers and dancers since they can't see the parents through the one way mirror as well as practice turning lights on and off so they are aware of when the stage will be dark. They also rehearse the finale when they all come out for a final bow to get them ready for that. It is seriously cute every time they do it. We also get a chance to see some of the other recital dances which is fun. And the girls get to watch older girls dance a lot of the time which they seem to love.


Next year Kenzie will be in a Combo 1 class. This is going to be a combination ballet and jazz dance class. Due to the times that worked best for us next year since Kenzie will be in school full time, we chose a class on Monday evening a little later than her current class. Initially we scheduled her to be with her current teacher for next year, Ms. Rebekah, but Kenzie mentioned that Ms. Rebekah said she isn't teaching it anymore. That doesn't really surprise me. She is a ballet dancer so she tends to do the little ones in pre-k and then older girls in ballet. She doesn't do jazz really so we had a feeling they could change it. Either way, Kenzie gets to try something new with jazz. We will see if once she gets to the age that she can focus on one or more dance styles, if she chooses to go with ballet or something different. We like the idea of exposing her to more styles when she is little. She liked tap, but she seems to love ballet.

Her recital was bright and early Saturday morning. We had to be at the high school (where it takes place) at about 9:15am. Nana, Papa, Uncle Rick, and Aunt Danielle got there shortly after us. Then Grandma and Grandaddy made it with plenty of time to get seats and get ready for the show. Kenzie sat in the back of the auditorium with her class and watched most of the show before the backstage moms led them backstage to await their number.

The girls did amazing! I admit... I was mainly only watching Kenzie but I know how hard all the girls have worked and I know it was great. Kenzie was so good! She looked over at Ms. Rebekah at times but she didn't watch her like a hawk like she did last year. She has this amazing toe point too that she is super proud of. She did so well. Made me cry... as usual.







Will did awesome during the entire show too. I want to mention that. Hooray for the little one being the calm one. =) Her class came back up the finale and Kenzie was so cute blowing a kiss to the crowd. We are so proud of her and all she has learned this year. She can't wait for next year!


The only weird thing we had was that as we picked her up from her class, she got super upset. Just broke down in tears. We still haven't figured out 100% what happened. I think she just got overwhelmed because it was a little chaotic and everything. We also wonder if it occurred to her that the season is over and Ms. Rebekah won't be her teacher next year. It was strange. Unfortunately, we couldn't get her calmed down enough to take a photo with Ms. Rebekah or any family members. We tried but trying to calm her made it worse. We eventually just headed out to the lunch. She perked up on the way there and enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden with everyone. We were able to get photos after lunch. We just wish we had them from her being in costume. I totally planned to get all the pics I wanted afterwards so we don't have any with her in costume with anyone in the family including Steven, Will, or myself. =( I might make her put it on another day just to take some pictures. Silly kid.




So... dance season is over. She did amazing and we can't wait to see how she does next year with ballet AND jazz.

Last year's recital vs this year...

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