7 years of dance!

It came up on my Facebok TimeHop last week: seven years ago was when DD1 had her first trial of dance lessons.  When she was 3yo we had signed her up to gymnastics lessons.  As a toddler she was very 'academic' - she was already reading at this age, but wasn't the most coordinated of people, so we thought gymnastics might help her gain her balance etc.  And it did (and yes, she still does gym now).  On the same site as gymnastics, we would walk past a preschool ballet class.  DD1 would look through the windows longingly and ask to join in. So, a couple of months after her 4th birthday DD1 started dancing: 45min which incl 30min ballet and 15min tap.

She was only in the preschool class for a few months, before being moved up to the next classes: 45min each of ballet and tap.  And she was in her first dance school show, in our local theatre, that November when DD1 had just turned 5.  Of course, DD2 was being dragged around the classes, when we had to wait for DD1's lessons, so when she was old enough she wanted to start dancing too.  It turns out that you can start dancing from 2.5yo, so after the show had finished, DD2 started in the preschool class. 

It's amazing how time flies, but also how dance takes over our lives!  From a 45min class, I'm now at the dance school (which has now moved to larger studios) 6 days a week - sometimes 7 if there is a show or a festival coming up and extra practice is needed. My schedule is now as follows:

• Monday - DD1 & DD2 Joint private lesson for Musical Theatre exams
• Tuesday - DD1 does Grade 4 Modern, Grade 5 Modern, Grade 4 Tap, Joint Private lesson with DD2 for Festival solos, Grade 4 Ballet.  DD2 does her 1.5hr gymnastics class, and then joins DD1 for their Festival private lesson.
• Wednesday - DD1 does Silver Tap and Silver Jazz, then does her 1.5hr gymnastics class.  DD2 does Free Syllabus Ballet
• Thursday - DD1 does Grade 4 National.  If we're busy on the weekend, then DD2 will do her ballet, tap and modern classes on a Thursday.
• Friday - DD1 does Festival Duets class.  Then DD1 & DD2 are together for Junior Acro for Dance, Junior Musical Theatre, Junior Limbering, Junior Festival Groups
• Saturday - DD2 does Grade 1 Ballet, Grade 1 Tap, Grade 2 Modern, Junior Free Syllabus Jazz.  DD1 does a Theatre Company for 2 hours at a different performing arts school.
• Sunday - DD1 has monthly practices as part of Tap Attack Junior Associates that she successfully auditioned for earlier this year.

And that doesn't even include any dance festivals.  

Fortunately, the girls' dance school only does festivals during half-terms, but since it is half-term here now, we're having to travel 1.5hrs each way, to go to a dance festival in Pershore this week.  But we have had some success!

DD1 did her duet, and it was the best we'd ever seen her perform it!  She didn't get placed, but there were 24 duets in their group, so she had some stiff competition.

DD2 had her Tap solo yesterday, and got a Silver medal!  There were fewer competitors in her group, but is the first medal she has received for a solo so she is very proud of herself.

We're back at the festival for more solos and group dances next weekend.