Hannah and Ellie Danced

Last Sunday was the day for the Douglas Ballet Academy's annual dance recital at the Michael J. Fox Theatre.  To say the girls were excited about it would be an understatement.

Ellie was in the first show with her Jazz class.  Since we started at Douglas, she's been in a Jazz class with girls way older than her.  We're still not too sure how that happened, but she can keep up with the girls in grade 7 and 8 without missing a beat.  The hilarious thing is, on her report card from her teacher from this year, she was recommended to register for "Teen Jazz" for the fall!  We love to laugh about this.

Ellie has enjoyed her class and her teacher, Ashleen, so much this year.  She loves to go to dance on Thursday evenings.  Her class performed to the 80's hit, "Freeze Frame" in this year's show.  It was a great song for Ellie.  Jazz is definitely her thing.  You can just see it.

Last minute make-up touch-ups.....

.... then ready for the big show!

Hannah made the switch to Contemporary dance this year.  She would tell you it's one the best decisions she's ever made.  She has been fortunate to have Kelly Douglas, the founder and director of the school, as her teacher.  Whenever I'd pick her up from dance on Wednesday afternoons, I'd ask, "how was it"?  To which she'd always reply "awesome" "so great" or "so much fun".  I'm thankful that she's found a dance discipline that she feels made for.  Hopefully we can find a school in Winnipeg where she can keep pursuing Contemporary dance.

Hannah's class danced to the theme of "conflict".   It was an amazing performance.

The unwritten rule in our house is that you can start "real" dance classes when you're in grade two.  Sasha has been patiently waiting for her turn to come.  Next year she won't have to be the one sitting in the audience and we'll have 3 dancers to watch.

I hope that our girls are always able to see their bodies as tools for expression.
I hope they value them as avenues to make a statement, tell a story, or create emotion.
I hope they take dance with them in all of the seasons of their lives.

We'll help them dance as long as they want to.