Dancing Girls

When we lived in Spring Lake, I came across a dance studio, World of Dance.  It was the most inexpensive dance studio I called and it was really close to the house.  We started attending when I was pregnant with Joshua and for the first year, only Hannah attended. 

Hannah quickly felt comfortable being there, she liked the teachers and liked dancing.  Halfway through our first year we moved across town.  However, Hannah was comfortable there.  The second year I put Riley in classes there, as well.   What I paid for two kids, is what I would have paid for one kid everywhere else I called.  

Above: Hannah is the 3rd one from the left.  

Below: She is on the right. 

In conclusion, though it is now 35 minutes away, we still attend that dance studio.  We are going into our 3rd year, and honestly, I don't see us changing studios anytime soon. 

That being said, here are some pictures from their dance recital this past June.  

Riley absolutely ate it up; she loved being front and center with so many people staring at her.  Hannah is a little more serious.  You can just see her focus and concentration.  We're working on remembering to smile while we concentrate.  

These are their professional photo's.  

Hannah is the second one from the right.  

I am typically a stage mom.  This gives me a free ticket to the show and I get to hang out with the girls back stage.  Last year, it gave me a terrific spot to see Hannah.  This year Hannah was on the opposite side of the state, so I saw very little of her but I had a great view of Riley.  

Here she is waving at me.  

 

Backstage, before their second performance.  

Riley, performing her heart out.  After the show, I was told by a handful of people that Riley stole the show.  He small size causes her to stand out some and then her over the top personality makes it impossible to not notice her.  Put her on stage with hundreds of people looking at her and she is the star!  

Southern Dance Xtreme

About a month ago, Hannah tried to for the competition dance team at her dance studio.  We've bene talking about it for about a year now.  It started at her recital last year, I told her to watch the different teams perform so that she could tell me what kind of dancing she would like to try.  She really enjoyed the competition team's performances.

At the beginning of the school year, I inquired about the dance team.  I wanted to know if Hannah had a shot, should I encourage her to try out or should I redirect her.  I also wanted more information on the team itself.  I learned that it was a very big time commitment and financial commitment.  I didn't have a problem with it, I just needed to make are that sure Hannah was ready for that kind of commitment.  So we spent months talking about it.  Not all the time, but I'd bring it up a couple times a month.  She was not quick to answer whether she was ready, which I thought was mature for her.  However, come the beginning of this year, she said she wanted to try out.  Before David left, both of us went to Hannah's teacher and talked with her about Hannah trying out.  She encouraged it; she said that Hannah enjoyed dance and was focused during class.  Based on that, she felt like Hannah would be a good addition to their dance team.

The day of the audition was two weeks after David left.  Hannah was nervous, and I just kept telling her how proud I was that she was trying out.  I reminded her that it took a lot of courage to try out for something.  She ran out of her auditions, when it was over, and was so proud of herself.  She said she felt so good about her try outs, and that her kicks were better than the other girls.  What more could I ask for than for her to simply be proud of herself!  This past week, the highly anticipated letter arrived:

She's very excited.  And I'm pretty excited too.  Her first competition won't happen until next year, which I'm happy with, since there's a good chance David won't miss them.