The Bean and Ballet

Both Jaia and I have been looking forward to her starting ballet class for months.  We bought her slippers and tights in November and, hanging in her closet since she was wee, was the leotard that I wore as a little one when I was in ballet class.  She’s been dressing up in the whole outfit as part of playtime a couple of times per week.  It’s adorable.  She switches from tutu to tutu (she has three or four) and she prances around practicing her pirouettes and pliés.

So when last night finally rolled around, she could barely contain herself.  We got dressed early, had a special supper (snapped a few pictures) and were out the door.  She was one excited little ballerina.

Jaia is shy and I worried a little that she wouldn’t want to stay in the room without Dan or I, but she completely surprised me by waltzing into the room and waving goodbye as I stood there.  I left to go into the hall (Dan and I were the only 2 parents who followed the rules and stayed out of the room).  After 25 minutes, I could not contain myself anymore and snuck in to take a peek.  I tried to find her in the circle of girls whose reflection I could see from the stairs, not wanting Jaia to see me and get distracted, but I couldn’t see her.  So I crept up 2 more stairs and there she was, standing away from the others dancing to her own reflection in the mirror and having a blast.

I burst out laughing.  There are oodles of pictures of me completely not following along in my ballet class, showing off for whoever would watch.  So Jaia comes by it honestly.  Turns out she’s just like her mama.

I went back into the hall to get Dan and then we both smiled as we watched our daughter march to the beat of her own drum.  She danced to her heart’s content, but did not follow the group even once.  She’s nothing if she isn’t an individual who does what she wants and last night, she didn’t want to walk in a circle and act like a bear or a frog.  She was in her ballet suit, in a tutu, in ballet class.  She wanted to dance, and dance she did.  I couldn’t be more proud.

Here are a few of my pictures of my little ballerina and the rest are up on flickr.