This is Fia, ready for last year's dance recital. This is her third year in ballet and second year in tap. We started Moo in ballet this year too, and in order to cut down the craziness of running around, the dance director and I worked out a schedule so the girls have class on the same night, at the same time. Moo has a 2-4 year old beginning class from 5:00-5:30. Most of the girls in her group are 2 or 3, she is older than most. Fia is in ballet/tap from 5:00-6:00 in a class designed for Intermediates, ages 6-7. Since Fia barely turned 5 when the class started, she is much younger than most of the girls in her class. She was scheduled to take Intermediates, 5-6 yrs, but the dance director felt she could handle the older class based on her dancing from last year and thought it was a good way to accomodate our scheduling needs.
This class has been very challenging for Fia. She had to make new friends, with older girls. She had to learn more difficult dance steps at a faster pace. Most challenging, she had to adjust to a different style of teaching, because her new class is taught by Miss S., who teaches advanced ballet and tap and advanced Jazz/Hip-Hop. This is Miss S.'s first time teaching an intermediate age group.
Miss S and Fia really seem to rub each other the wrong way sometimes. Fia is a perfectionist, but easily embarressed. Once embarressed, she can become defiant and stop trying, because someone pointed out that she did something incorrectly. (We are working on this, I promise!) Miss S. is loud, she doesn't stop the dance music to quietly redirect dancers, the way Gianna's last teacher (Miss R, who was Miss S.'s little sister!) did. Instead, she shouts directions and corrections over the music. This allows the girls who are dancing correctly to keep going all the way through, without breaking it up. But for Fia, it has been terrible! Whenever Miss S would shout "Other foot, Fia!" or "Arms down now Fia!" Fia would get stubborn and either stop dancing or refuse to make the desired correction. 2 weeks ago, Miss S. talked to me about it and we both considered pulling her out to the younger class, even though it would mean she couldn't participate in the recital, because at least she would be having fun in class. Miss S. wanted to give it a few more weeks, and I agreed. I went home and had another talk with Fia about obeying directions, reminding her that Miss S. likes you, she wants you to be a better dancer, and she has to talk loudly over the music, she isn't yelling or angry at you. It was a conversation we've had before. Then I added that she had my permission to shout back over the music and say "Ok Miss S!" and then she had to try to fix her mistake.
This week, it finally sank in! Miss S. pulled me aside again and said "What did you do with Fia? She's a whole new girl!" She remembered which foot to start off on, she remembered when to bring her arms down, and she did nearly all the steps correctly. Most of all, she didn't have one moment of upset and took direction well! I guess Fia just needed to know she could shout back! So glad my little dancing queen can stick it out and be in the recital again this year!
