Just as I suspected, there were a variety of ages and abilities present, which was awesome. There was even the token boy who must have had several years of gymnastics under his belt, because he was nothing short of amazing. Even the teacher, Miss Connie, was impressed. Which is saying something... Miss Connie is hard to please. She is a "well-seasoned" tap and tumbling instructor, and is one tough cookie and doesn't take any nonsense from the kids. I love her.
Rylan did a variety of stuff: cartwheels, back bends, round-offs, downward rolls, forward and backward somersaults... Some were sorta decent....sorta. We need to practice. She seriously lacks arm strength, despite all the practice she has had smacking her brothers around. I think the trampoline will make a nice practice surface, since we don't have any large cushions or mats.
Since there were a variety of ages present, Rylan got in some quality time with teenage girls. This was a first. Rylan was watching them. Intently. At one point she was looking at one girl, then looked down at her own body, and immediately sucked in her sweet 7-yr old tummy. :(
No! No! No!
Crap. I love dance, I really do. I love how it engages your body, your mind, and gives you limitless ways to express yourself. But I hate the dark side. The whole self-image, and the tendency to compare and always see yourself as lacking thing... I don't want my daughter to go through that. Maybe it is just plain unavoidable. I just want to preserve her 'girlhood' for as long as possible, and not deal with the whole negative body-image thing.
Well, Rylan loved her class. Loved it. She now wants to add it to her fall class line up - to do jazz and tumbling. I am very disappointed that she is ready to let ballet go. I'm not okay with that - it is the foundation of dance! I may have to twist her arm...in a graceful way.
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