Chicklet's Middle School Dance Journey

Okay, peeps.

Is it a double-post day????

IS IT?!!!!

I. Think. So.

I'm trying to keep up so I don't have to catch up as we wind down the school year.

Which means it's time to share some precious pics (and I do mean precious, because she never allows me to take any!) of Chicklet's Friday evening Dance Recital at the middle school!

As a refresher...all the kiddos have the option of enrolling in three (yes, three!) electives each year of middle school, and Chicklet's chosen trifecta this year was:

Dance

Theater

Band

And I think she'd put them in that rank order!

Of course, Chica and Chicklet both took several years of dance classes when they were younger, but all of it was ballet/tap--with a bit of jazz thrown in--and nothing much like the freer, feistier style of Chicklet's middle school experience that explored all varieties of dance--from contemporary to ballet, to hip-hop, to what'd I'd classify as pom.

From day one of school, she came home so happy to share bits and pieces of the routines she'd learned, and the love never waned all year long.

It's been a joy to watch my beloved middle-born get back to the movement she's always, always naturally loved!

In fact, as I've watched her dance throughout the year, I've had to ask myself many times WHY it was that she ever decided to quit official lessons???

And the answer to that, I think, is that the more classical style of training was a bit too limiting for her back in the day.

Perhaps I didn't try hard enough to find livelier styles of dance for her, but...you know what? All of that is coulda, woulda, shoulda, and it's never a great idea to start second-guessing decisions of the past, amiright?

All that matters is that she's LOVED her dance class this year--and that's made me love it by proxy!

Chicklet's only other dance performance of the year was about a month or so after school started, when the entire hoard of dance students performed at the Fall Pep Rally. It was so fun then--and just as fun when they repeated the routine last Friday night--along with several others!

With 140 dance studies across three grades, it was a packed gym performance. So I got very little video that showed Chicklet clearly--especially since the 6th graders were at the back of the group.

But I was still so thrilled to get to witness Chicklet performing so many of the dances she's showed us in the middle of the living room--complete with full music and the heightened vibe of a live performance!

Chicklet has such a unique internal response to public performances (it's been the same way with her Band and Theater commitments of late) that we often mistake her vibe afterwards as a little cranky.

Honestly, I think she just pours so much of herself into the public-facing spectacle of it all that she needs a little decompression time before she can talk through the event and interact with us, to a certain extent.

Because of that, it made my heart BURST when Chicklet came down off the emotions of the performance enough to permit a few very precious photos. :)

I gifted her an elusive Nee-Doh as a performance gift, and she kept it on her person--and even permitted me some sensory time with it, ha--the entire weekend. :)

I seriously am so dang proud of her for participating in an activity she enjoys so much--without being daunted by other students' skill levels or the public performance aspect of it all.

She just knows she loves it.

And she wants to do it.

The end.

And for that, I applaud her--big time!

Stay tuned for another Chicklet-centric post tomorrow, after the 6th grade awards ceremony. I have so many thoughts about Chicklet's inaugural year of middle school, and so many things I'd like to share while they're still fresh.

The past few months have been so chock-full of commitments and concerts and performances, but every single one is amazing and representative of so much work and dedication--and Chicklet's Dance Recital was so exception!

So, here's to Chicklet and her Dance Vibes!

May they continue just as happily into her 7th grade school year!

More mañana, peeps!

Over and out.