Ballet, kinda.

Reece is in ballet.

I pause there because for those of you who know me well, you know I’m not really a ballet-kind-of-girl.  I remember taking ballet for a brief amount of time at Kiddie Kollege (my preschool alma mater), but I suppose it just didn’t tickle my fancy.  The extent of my ballet knowledge comes from doing plie squats at the gym.  Someone correct me on my spelling there…apparently my Mac doesn’t know ballet either.

At this point in Reece’s life, it would be very beneficial to have her Aunt Kaleesha, who was herself a ballerina and taught ballet at her very own studio for a while, live closer.  Maybe she could take Reece to ballet while I take cousin Anna E to play in dirt or something.

Anyway, since ballet is more along the lines of what tickles Reece’s fancy, I enrolled her in a class through the Parks & Recreation department here in town.  For $15 we can experiment and then possibly move on to an actual dance studio if this is indeed what Reece is geared to do.

So this is Reece during her first day when parents were allowed to watch (and when she FINALLY decided to participate):

She’s the one in hot pink with the hideous white shoes.  I was so proud of my $6.50 Wal Mart bargain…until I got to the class and realized she looks like one of those people who wears house shoes out in public.  I mean, those are BAD!

So Reece and her good friend Ady practiced first position, second position, and their step-hop skips together and I thought life was good.  So I was very surprised when I asked Reece what her favorite part of ballet was and I heard, “Nuffin, because I didn’t see any ballet in there.”  Apparently it’s not really ballet without some twirls and whirls.

Week two:  I looked through Anna E’s hand-me-down dance stuff (that I originally thought were still too big for Reece) and found some black shoes that came to us along with some tap dancing shoes and a leotard.  Oh, good…no more slippers in dance class.  Reece was very excited about her new black leotard and shoes and happily entered the dance class ready to participate.

Ady’s mom and I waited by the door since parents aren’t allowed to come in after the first class.  Actually, we were eavesdropping on the class because we’re not so sure about their instructor.  Poor thing…she’s young and it seems she’s never really worked with children before this and doesn’t have much knowledge on how to speak to three year old girls.  She’s not encouraging in the least bit and speaks with an ugly tone.  We spent the 45 minutes of class time debating whether to pull them out of her class.  I decided I’d let Reece decide after class whether she ever wants to come back again.  While Ady’s mom went ahead and spoke to the manager onsite about this issue, I continued to eavesdrop.  It was what Reece said (loud and clear) that made me cringe: “Welllll, this really isn’t ballet,” to which the instructor replied, “Reece, I’ve been in ballet for 18 years so I know a little more than you do.”

Oh Lord.

I open the door at this point so I can be very aware of what is going on in the class.  As they finish up, I notice Reece scurrying to get her shoes, which are off to the side along with another girl’s flip flops.  So I ask Reece as we’re getting in the car if she likes going to the ballet class and whether she likes the instructor, and she answered yes to both questions.  Hmmmm.  Ok.  I then ask why she didn’t wear her new ballet shoes and she says, “Because the teacher didn’t know they were ballet shoes.”

What?!

Upon further investigation, I found that they were actually the ballet flats that are ever-so-popular right now, not ballet shoes.  Folks, I wasn’t kidding when I said I don’t know anything about ballet.

When Gee was here later that week, I told her about our shoe dilemma, and she was so sweet to buy Reece some real-life, actual ballet shoes.

Too bad Reece threw a colossal fit right before going to her next class on week 3 and I had no choice but to punish her by not letting her go.

So the saga continues.  I’ll keep you posted on the class-that-is-called-ballet-but-we’re-not-really-sure-what-it-is-or-how-this-teacher-ended-up-with-a-group-of-three-year-old-girls.  All I know is I need to search youtube for the ballet moves the teacher mentioned in her weekly email so I’ll know how to help Reece practice.

That, and begin getting Rynn interested in sports that involves balls.

I like you the way you are.

I really can’t believe I said this to my daughter.  I mean, I spend lots of time explaining to her that beauty is not about what we wear or how we look.  This talk usually follows an eruption from Reece after she first agrees to wear shorts and a t-shirt, but then realizes she’s not in a dress and therefore “not pretty.”  I have to remind her over and over that pretty clothes don’t make us pretty, but if we’re kind and have a sweet heart we are beautiful.

After having one of these dialogues with Reece just yesterday morning, I go and have this conversation in the evening when Reece crawls into my lap at the computer:

Me (looking at an ad for a swimsuit and admiring the model’s trim body): Oh Reece, wouldn’t it be cool if Mommy looked like that?

Reece: Welllllll (drawn out in that little Texas accent of hers), I really just like the way you look now.

Daddy: I agree with Reece.

Seriously?!  No wonder she puts so much stock into how she looks when her mommy is obsessing over the last 15 pounds I need to lose.  I sat in my computer chair in awe of how that all went down…how ridiculous it was of me to say that in front of my daughter, and then at the realization that a three year old totally put me in my place.

I still feel so awful about the whole thing, but I do take comfort in knowing she thinks I look just fine.  And that her daddy does also.

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Ok, so I realize I stopped blogging again right after I bragged about being back, so I’ll put together a “June” blog and sum everything up next week. 🙂