All tagged Melody Dances
Dance for the spring has officially come to an end. It is hard to believe that Melody’s last year in a combo class is over! Next year she has to pick specific dance classes to take. So that will make things quite interesting! I didn’t take near as many pictures as a I did videos this semester. So enjoy the few pictures I did take below!
Back in February, Melody had her dance pictures made. This will be her last year in a combo type class. Next year she will have to start narrowing down what specific dance classes she wants to take (jazz, tap, ballet, etc.). Her teacher picked a fun and completely different costume this year compared to years before. And we did a high pony this year too. I really loved how this turned out!
It is hard to believe we have already finished half of our dance year already. We have already received our dance recital costumes too! Melody is taking combo class that includes ballet, tap, and some jazz. She is getting to have her favorite teacher one more year. Next year she will have to pick a speciality. She had a fun semester dancing away!
It’s hard to believe Melody just finished her FOURTH dance recital a little over a month ago. I feel like it was just last year we were walking in that 2 year old for her first dance class, and here we are four years later. Even though this is our fourth recital, we have only had one real recital prior to this year. The prior two years were not full recitals due to COVID (I’ll share each of those posts at the bottom). So this is the first year we are back to normal.
This spring things finally started getting back to normal at the dance studio. We were able to go back into the classrooms every single week after class to watch. And we were able to remove masks as well. It was a pretty fun year getting to dance with friends and enjoy this routine. It is hard to believe the dance year is already over though!
When it came to dance pictures this year, I took a different approach than years’ past. I decided to pay someone to do her hair and makeup. That is the worst part for me. It always ends up in tears. Now seeing this was a few months ago, I am actually confident in her makeup now, but the hair, not so much. But I am really happy with the way her pictures turned out this year.
Dance started out very similar to how it ended in the spring. We are still dropping off and picking up via a carline. This is our first year having to take a night class since Melody is in elementary school now. It is kind of sad and really hard on bed times, but we survive. Near the end of the year, they did start letting us come in for the last 5 minutes to see what they have learned. I hope that will continue into the spring as well. Here are a few pictures I was able to get this fall.
So two weeks ago, we celebrated Melody’s THIRD dance recital. The stress around recitals never gets easier. Every year there is new circumstances that make it even more chaotic than the previous year. I am also bias in that I thought our recital last year was the best. It was NOT a full recital due to COVID, but for kids this age, I think it was perfect! But we had a traditional recital, but with less people due to social distancing.
By much surprise, we finished our dance year without any COVID related issues or delays. We even had a little sense of normalcy by the end of the semester. We would get to go inside and watch the girls the last 10 minutes of class. We only got to do this maybe a handful of times, but it was still something that made it feel a little more normal. I am hoping next year will provide us a greater sense of normalcy as well. Here are some photos I took throughout the semester!
Back before COVID-19 ruined a lot of our plans, I intended to sign Melody up for gymnastics this summer, and we were going to skip dance this summer. I know she loves dance, but we have struggled to get her to enjoy gymnastics. My assumption from the last two years of summer gymnastics is that she didn’t enjoy it because it was a mommy and me style class. This summer was the chance for her to do it alone. But we just didn’t feel entirely comfortable sending her with COVID still prevalent. Also, dance lasted through a good portion of June. So we actually figured we would not join anything this summer. Dance starts back early August. Then I read about a tumbling camp offered by her dance studio. It was a 3 day camp lasting 3 hours a day. I loved the idea of it being a longer day, and it offered tumbling and fun. And I really trusted their attention to detail when it came to COVID. So I jumped at the chance to sign her up!
Melody’s second dance recital was last weekend. This year it was slightly different due to COVID-19, but honestly I loved it! First, the recital was moved from May to June. We were assigned a day similar to how it would have happened in May. However we did not have a rehearsal this year. Instead we came just for our single performance. They did a rehearsal, then immediately performed again for video purposes. Because of this, there were maybe 40 people in the audience at a time, and we only had to stay for just her performance. Then we were free to go! I think things went perfectly, and we felt really safe. Melody did so good, and I was afraid with the lack of in-room dance classes she would not know the dance. Overall it was such a sweet performance, and I would be ok if this was the new norm for recitals at her age, ha!
So this spring was an interesting one when it came to dance. March 13 we received the news that schools would be temporarily closing for COVID 19, and since our dance studio follows the school calendar dance too was postponed. We spent the first week assuming it was spring break. Then our dance studio put together online classes for the month of April and a few weeks of March. Once (sometimes twice) a week we would do dance in our living room. Melody would do a Frozen dance from youtube along with her recital dance and dance instruction for her class. We have spent the last 4 weeks getting back to in studio dance classes but in a new setup. We have to drop off and pick up the kids via carline instead of going instead. They also have encouraged the kids to wear masks too. And it is recital weekend! So while dance was different, we adjusted and overcame it all. And we are thankful we did get to go back to class and have a recital!
We started Melody’s second year of dance back in September. It is still the thing she looks forward to the most every week, sometimes every day. She is constantly asking to go to dance. We have a new teacher and new dancers and dance moms too. It is a bit more chaotic, but I suspect it is just a glimpse of her future in dance, ha! Check out some of my favorite pictures so far from dance!
So I guess I should finally share Melody’s pictures from dance this last year, ha! I mean we only have had them since March…Oh well! She was a stinker and refused to smile, but that’s the norm!
This year, Melody performed in her first ever dance recital! She started taking dance classes back in September (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three). While this year had its ups and downs, Melody loved every minute. And next year we will be more prepared, and we will likely have way more ups because of that, ha!
Now that Dance is over for the Spring, I thought I would share some candid photos I took of her before, during, and after some of her dance classes. She has really learned a lot and had so much fun. This spring, their focus was their recital dance. I will share more about that in a future post, but it was so much fun to see the progress she has made from the very first class until now. We also had dance pictures made during the Spring, so be on the lookout for those and a fun story about the chaos that was part of that! We have only been out of dance a few weeks, but Melody is already asking to go back!
It is crazy how much Melody has learned in dance over the last few months, even since my last post about her starting to dance. They have not started to learn their spring routine yet, but they are learning some of the basics and how to follow instructions. Melody seems to be doing better and better. She is becoming a little less timid about “performing” alone. And at home she knows all about ballerina arms and dance, ha! Here are some more pictures of the rest of our 2018 during dance.
We enrolled Melody in gymnastics this summer to see how she would like it. So then we decided to give dance class a try this fall/spring. So far Melody has only had about 5-6 classes (we missed one due to vacation and one for sickness), but she seems to enjoy it. I am really looking forward to seeing how she continues to do over the next 6 months or so. We are also hoping to add back gymnastics in the near future when an evening opening becomes available. Our days are just so busy! We haven’t been allowed to go into the class and watch them learn except for about 5 minutes at the end. So here are a few pictures of those moments (and a few I was able to take of her before or after her class).
