All tagged Dance
Melody’s 5th year of dance was this year, and she recently had her recital too. This was her last year taking a combo class, so she was one of the oldest groups dancing in her recital. And I honestly think they did the best. She has really come out of her shell over the last 5 years too!
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.
For dance teacher gifts this year, I decided to go simple and cute. I saw this idea on Pinterest, and I recreated it. I made cute gift tags. I found a cute clipart online, then I added the phrase “Dancing Makes Life Sweeter” followed by “Thanks for a great year - Melody”. Then I attached it to a bag full of Starburst!
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!
I was hoping this was the year Melody decided to smile in her dance pictures. I mean she finally smiled in her school picture. Well she tried. I just don’t think she is as comfortable with the dance photographer as the school one. But she tried. And the pictures did turn out cute.
By a miracle, we managed to attend in-person dance class for the entire fall! Things are slightly different than years’ past though. We had to drop the kids off instead of take them into dance, we then returned to pick them up an hour later, and masks were highly recommended. But Melody had so much fun!
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!
Luckily we were able to get in dance pictures prior to having to do dance at home due to COVID-19. We just recently were able to go through and get our pictures from the dance studio, so I wanted to share them! Melody promised me she smiled, but here we are again with no smiles. Oh well! She did smile when I was taking pictures before so there is that!
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!
Melody loves dance. I am certain it is one of her most favorite activities. Well I originally planned to take a break from dance this summer and only do gymnastics. They released different dance camps, but it was so expensive for only a few days of dance. And while it probably equated to the same amount of time as the weekly dance classes in the end, I did opt to sign her up for weekly classes. This gave me a small break once a week, and she really had fun.
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!
