Tess's First Ballet Recital

Just before we left for our summer vacation in Dallas, it was time for dress rehearsal for Tess's first-ever ballet recital.  Unfortunately, the recital itself was scheduled for the day we had to fly out, but we were able to invite all of Tess's grandparents to the dress rehearsal (and Tess didn't seem to know the difference).  Our little ballerina looked so beautiful all dressed up in her costume!  She semi-bombed her "performance" but it was fun anyway.  Mommy is glad for a break from weekly ballet class, which has become increasingly difficult now that Kate is walking and wants to be in the middle of the dance floor. 

The theme of the recital was "At The Movies" and Tess's class danced to "Happy Working Song" from the movie Enchanted. We sure loved her teacher, Miss Ally, and we are sad to hear that People's Church is changing their "School of Creative Arts" program and she will not be teaching there anymore.  Next up for Tess: swim lessons!

Ballet Fun

It's been so much fun watching Tess do ballet each week. In the photo at the right I caught a rare moment of cooperation when ALL the 3-year-olds were following instructions during warmup time. That's our cousin "CoCo" (Colette) Thiessen on the right.  The girls' ballet teacher, Miss Ally, has incredible patience (you'd have to, right?) and has put together an adorable routine for the dance recital in June.  Below is some video I took during class -- as you can see, it's mostly chaos...but still super cute!  

Ballet Class At PSCA

Tess's Ballet Showcase

I'm sure it's not uncommon for mothers of adorable little girls to fantasize about their little beauties prancing around in tutus, uniformly and happily, with a group of other, almost-as-adorable, mini ballerinas.

I thought a lot and for a long time about how to make this happen without breaking the bank, for a little one like Tess who can be clutzy and has a mind of her own. Most local dance studios charge more than I was willing to spend for something that isn't a sure thing for us, and I didn't want to over commit!

The answer was right in front of me, literally, at one of our monthly cousin play dates a few months ago.  My cousin Lisa is part of a home school co-op that is connected with People's School of Creative Arts (PSCA) at People's Church, and her littlest daughter (also three years old) is in the "Prima Ballerina" class there.  I was excited to hear there were no home schooling requirements for Tess to join, and the tuition was shockingly reasonable.  Lisa had great things to say about the teacher, and Tess would have a built-in buddy with Coco in the class.  

Well thank God for patient ballet teachers, is all I can say.  Tess truly has her own idea about things, including ballet and sometimes obedience.  Overall I think she has had fun, and is learning some of the technical ballet jargon while also getting to experience many a little girls' dream of being a ballerina.  

Best part for me is that every week I get an hour to catch up with my sistercousin Lisa! We sip coffee, hold our babies, and laugh while Coco and Tess make spectacles of themselves (both precious and ridiculous)...all while making fun memories, too.  Below are some pics of our ballet classes so far!