Ballet/Tap

Well, before I get to the ballet. This morning after dropping Kaylee off, I made a bank deposit, hit the post office (the lines are getting longer now that Christmas is coming), and shipped off some SMA Support stuff to two different countries. Then I headed out to Glenndale, and had a flight in the Warrior with someone, came down and we had lunch at Applebees with Nate, Chuck, Steve, me and Greg Messer. Nate drove me to Kokomo, where I picked up the Seneca and took it to Sheridan to have some smoke issues looked at. (The plane, not me.) Chuck picked me up at Sheridan in the Citabria, we headed to Glenndale where I had a whole 15 minutes before I left to pick up Kaylee at school. Got Kaylee, stopped back by Fed Ex to pay a bill and ship off a laptop, then it was time to get home, eat, and prepare for ballet.

Now, ballet. Before I start, let me say that I'll be uploading some photos I took at ballet class to Kaylee's site coming up soon here, under the November '06 page, so you can check them out. :) And, Kaylee had a lot of fun, she concentrated hard and tried to follow exactly what her teacher was saying, even when about 3 of the other kids there were just running around doing their own thing and not listening at all, which is pretty distracting to other little kids who also might want to go play then. So she will be staying in ballet/tap now, and her first recital will be in June.

When I walked in and finally sat down, I liked the facility. It's a very small area, but it is burgundy and gold and black, has a full wall mirror on one side, and a nice dance floor area, and a few rows of chairs for parents (or whomever) to observe. Kaylee hopped up on the stage and did her thing in front of this pretty large crowd, without even hesitating. I'd have been terrified to be the only one brand new at this and doing it in front of people, but she just ran up there like a champ. There are 14 girls in her class, and she is the third "Kaylee" in her class. The teacher has to call the Kaylee's and the Bailey's by their last names, because there are so many of them. And to think I'd never heard of the name when we first decided to name her that! Anyway. One thing I hadn't realized was that the girls wear tights every single lesson, so I didn't have tights on her tonight, but we will next week. The teacher would also tell the girls to get into "First Position" and "Diamond" and "House" and "Second Position", and they all knew what that was and Kaylee didn't--and yet she managed to do the moves just about as well as anybody in there. She really fits in to that atmosphere and arena, and I have a feeling she will really come to enjoy the dancing, it seems to fit her personality to a "t".

Speaking of atmosphere, it is a whole other world in there. I mean no disrespect to the people I'm about to describe, I truly don't, because people I love fit this description too. :) But after I sat down and looked around, I was amazed not just by the other girls, but by their parents. I was truly in their world, not mine. I was the only brunette there for one thing. Well, let's just say I was the only one whose hair color was currently brunette. :) Every mother in there was in her 30's to 40's, with blond or fake blond hair, usually longish hair tied up in a fancy French Twist, thin, fashionably attired, little boots and hair and jewelry accessories and manicured nails and all. They could have all been related, they looked so much alike. And the majority of their daughters were mini-me's of them. Kaylee fit right in there-thinish, blond ponytail, tall.

Looking around, I just kind of had to smile, because I felt like an alien. Now I didn't look like an alien, even though I was just dressed in jeans, tennies and a sweatshirt, had brown hair and weighed about twice as much as anybody in the room. lol I can usually pull off looking fairly normal in most situations, and frankly at this point in my life, I don't give a hoot if I fit into a certain category or not. Face it, I haven't fit into many categories at all my entire life, so I'm kind of used to it! But I definitely was the only one like me in the room. This is such a foreign thing to me, dance classes. I like big rumbly radial engines and the smell of jet fuel and things that go very fast. Of course I enjoy classical music and watching my daughter be a princess too. But it was clearly obvious to me that this was her, this was her personality, her desire, so I am happy if she is happy. She looked beautiful up there, and she is very graceful. I look at her sometimes and wonder how she's mine! I was SO shy, and clumsy, and liked bugs, and a big book worm, and the nerd in the class; and she is so outgoing and graceful and girly and doesn't have time for books most of the time. And she looks great in a dance outfit. I can't wait to see her very first recital!

One funny note; after they did ballet for about 45 minutes, they put on their tap shoes for the "tap" portion of the lesson. Now let me tell you what, give a group of fourteen 4-5 year old girls tap shoes and a hard floor and cut them loose in a small room, and...wow. I, without thinking, blurted to the lady sitting next to me, "Man, if I'm going to stay for the tap part of this, I'm going to have to come equipped with some Excedrin or a flask next time." She looked over at me and started laughing, luckily. She wasn't a mom, she was the grandma of one of the girls there. So she was a little different--a 50 something year old thin blond woman, well-dressed, but who at least laughed at my comment. I wasn't much kidding. I. can. not. handle. that. kind. of. chaos. I about jumped out of my skin to flee the room, and was trying to just breathe for a bit there until they got things in order and started "tap dancing" to music you couldn't hear over the kids' shoes. Whose idea was it to put little kids in metal shoes?? MAN...of course Kaylee loved it.

There was one young girl there, I don't know how old she is, but she is certainly much older than the other girls. She was a very large young lady, and I have a feeling she was in the 4-5 year old class because of skill level. I knew this was the right place for Kaylee when I saw how the teacher handled this little girl and the others. She didn't show favorites, she helped the girl who is there because she loves to dance even though she won't go on to be a world-famous ballerina just as much as she helped the tiniest little blond girl who had all the moves down to perfection. She was respectful to all the girls, and she was patient with them all. And I was actually pretty proud of this bigger young lady, who may have been the oldest one in the room, but didn't let it stop her from having fun, dancing, feeling 'pretty', and going for it. I applaud her for doing it, her mom for not discouraging her from it, and her teacher for making it a positive experience for her.

All in all, it was an interesting and fun experience for both Kaylee and myself. Of course that was $15 later for a sign-up fee, $35 for the month of lessons, $18 for the tap shoes I had to buy on the spot since I just had her in ballet shoes for what I thought was just a ballet lesson (silly me!), $20 for a registration fee for the recital, and $45 for the costume for the upcoming recital. Yep, I kid you not. The good news is, I'm paid up on things for quite awhile! And did I mention she had fun? :o) She did a Fantastic job, and I'm very proud of her! Pictures up on her site under Nov. '06! www.kayleestants.com!