How adorable is this photo? I remember being very young and wearing the traditional black leotard and the palest of pink tights while standing at the barre. I would stare out the studio window at the library next door. I liked the idea of ballet classes, but found them too slow, so I would beg my mom to let me take more exciting dance classes. Eventually she let me try out for Super Steppers where the uniform was a red sequin leotard and white knee socks (and you had to perform the ever challenging jump splits).
Did you take dance classes as a child? Do your kids take dance lessons?
P.S. — Dancing reminds me of this amazing video. I’ve seen it a thousand times and I never get sick of it.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
i indeed took dance! i was a clogger! it’s similar to tap, only the steps are different and you have double taps on each part, instead of one, like in tap. my girls are just at that age where we can do dance, and let me tell you, i can’t wait! i’m thinking ballet first.
I did take dance, but was not very motivated. My oldest daughter loves dancing (at home, at school, on the playground, the grocery store) except at class. Apparently structure is not very motivating. LOL.
Yes! I took dance (Ballet, Tap) throughout my childhood and even into high school. I loved it. I learned discipline, good posture, and made amazing friends. I just registered my 4-year-old for Ballet/Tap today. She is taking an intro summer program and loves it. She hasn’t whined about going even once. Hopefully she will continue to enjoy it.
I took tap, ballet, jazz and learned how to ride a unicycle growing up! I absolutely loved tap and although it’s been over 20 years, I still remember some of our recital routines (what can I say, I really loved tap dancing)! The dance classes helped me overcome any shyness for dancing in public and I’m grateful for this. I also ended up with an incredible box of costumes that I’ve passed on to friends’ kids, which I now have for my own daughter to play with some day. I hope to pick up an adult ballet class again sometime soon just to keep fit/flexible. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I took tap starting when I was about 3 and ending at about 5 and loved it. I still have really vivid memories of our recitals. Though I don’t think I made any friends there. :( I took ballet in grade school and loved that too but it was just not meant for my body type. I was too tall and not thin at all. I could so a mean split though so always had a center spot at recitals!
I don’t have a daughter and the classes around us are all “princess dance” so I won’t be signing my son up for them any time soon as they are really not boy friendly. :(
My little girl has been in dance since she was 3yrs old. She doesn’t walk across a room, she dances across it. And maybe throws a few cartwheels in as well.
She fell on her bottom at last years dance recital. She immediately got back up and got back into the routine. I don’t think anybody even noticed that she’d fallen. There is something to be said about learning to pick yourself up and carry on. Very valuable life skill, I think, and great that she learned it so young.
I could not wait to get my girls in dance classes. Little girls in tutus and tights? So precious. Their recitals crack me up. I love it.
I desperately wanted to take dance class when I was little, but there wasn’t enough money for it. It wasn’t until I was in junior high that we were finally financially stable enough for one class. I chose jazz (though it wasn’t jazz at all – instead, think early 90′s Paula Abdul). By the time I was in high school, I was working several jobs to pay for additional classes myself: ballet and tap. I was part of the school’s resident performing group and LOVED every second of it. I took a job at the school itself so that I’d be comped for even MORE classes. I was hooked. When I went to college, guess what I majored in… Dance. I wanted to go into dance therapy (lots of promising results for autistic children and the elderly) and wanted to run outreach programs to underprivileged kids. It didn’t quite work out that way, but it was a nice thought! :)
My son took toddler movement classes for a couple of years and LOVED it! Of course, now he’s too “boy” to be caught dead in a dance class… but we still get pretty groovy in the living room!
I took ballet as a child, then again as a teenager, then again after I had my first child. I dream of taking ballet again, someday… maybe when the kids are all in school. I love it, I have always loved it. My daughter now takes ballet and tap. She loves it too! This picture is precious!
I took ballet. However, one day while at practice I wasn’t feeling well. We were asked to start at one corner of the room and twirl around to the other side. While twirling, I threw up. The class was canceled and instead of the girls feeling sorry for me, they avoided me like the plague and said things like “it’s all her fault we can’t have dance today”. Needless to say, I never went back. :)
And now, today I am the most clumsy, uncoordinated dancer alive. I guess I should have stuck with it!
Did I take dance classes as a kid? Oh, for a short year or so. But… I take tap classes now! It’s all adults (median age is in the 50s) and it’s a BLAST! You can see some of our stuff here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnL1aCS3Yuk (my favorite)
http://www.youtube.com/user/bedaiss#p/u (all my videos – 5 are tappity, 4 are kiddos)
My son loves to come to tap class with me. I keep reminding my hubby that Walter Peyton took ballet throughout his life to keep his “moves” in top form for football! I hope the girl wants to take dance. But I won’t complain if she ops for sports instead (like I did).
HA! I’m from St. George and wore the red squins of Super Steppers, too! It was lots of fun. I hadn’t thought of jump splits in a long time…smiling at all the memories now.
I studied ballet from the time I was 4 years old until I was almost 13… danced on pointe for the last two years. I took it very seriously but was also very into music – played flute from age 8 years old. I gave up my ballet to attend a performing arts school (for music).
Several of my friends over the years who started with ballet and dance classes, went on to pursue dance careers… one talented girl toured for years all over the world with some big-name acts.
My own daughter is also into “the arts” whether visual, music, dance… I am so glad that I have the experience in those fields to share with her and to help her explore.
I took dance for years.Ballet, and modern. Then I taught ballet. I loved it. My 2 year old daughter is into all things ballerina and I can’t wait till she goes.
One of my favorite activities in the world is Irish dancing! I started young and still dance every week – any day that I can! My dancing has taken on a life of it’s own, a family of it’s own. People ask me why I Irish dance and I instantly have this picture of myself uncontrollably smiling when I’m on stage or asked to dance on the spot. I hear the music and away my feet go! It is mentally challenging, as I compete on the National level, and it keeps me in shape! I don’t know what my future family will be interested in (I don’t have kids yet), but I hope that whatever they choose to find bliss in, they will love it just as much as I love Irish dancing!
I had a very SHORT ballet career as a child – I think 6 months. I cut my tongue open quite badly at the age of 6 when my chin came down on the barre. Don’t know HOW that happened??? However my youngest daughter Paris, now aged 15, has just chosen to stop after a 13 year dance career!!! She had to make a decision between education and dance – that seems to be the direction of classical ballet, they take the kids out of school and they dance full-time from their early teen years. It is abig decision but I think it is hard for a 13 year old to decide what they want to spend the rest of their life doing (or until they get an injury). She has chosen to become a doctor instead! So now for the first time in years I am no longer a ballet Mum (I did enjoy it – I think supporting your child in something they are passionate about just comes natural). I now have time to enjoy the blogging world though and I do ENJOY that!!!
By the way I found a blog called The Ballerina Project (http://theballerinaproject.blogspot.com/), which is a quest of a mom of 8 kids to become a ballerina again.
I took dance with my sister. I opted out after a few years and became a gymnast while my sister continued and ended up studying with a ballet company in NYC. As an introduction to ballet my girls just participated in “3-4 yr old ballet/princess camp” (1.5 hours M-F morning for one week) which involved basic stretches and positions, a craft, snack, and “free movement” to music. They LOVED it and I LOVED seeing them in their cute little leotards! We’ll be signing them up for ‘real’ classes in the Fall.
My big sister was taking dance classes and her costumes looked really fun so I agreed to sign up for ballet when I was about 5 years old. The first class was totally not what I was expecting and I’m pretty sure that class was my last. Turns out my sister was taking jazz dance and no one has explained to me the difference. Oh well. Dancing has never really been my thing.
While my tap and ballet career was exceedingly short-lived (I’m too noisy and talkative to be a dancer), I found this photo to be completely charming! I emailed it to several people and saved it to my desktop – MaryRuffle does it again!
That video is one of my favorites! Last summer, I watched it almost every morning as I woke up, such a wonderful way to start the day!
i looooove this photo. i want a copy!
I started my dance lessons at the Art Linkletter Dance Studio in the early 60′s. There was even a van that picked me and my cousin up and delivered us back home after class! I continued with ballet until I was 16.
My daughter started dance at age four and took lessons into junior high and switched to gymnastics for her cheerleading. My youngest son even took took tap and ballet and both he and my daughter performed in a semi-professional production of The Nutcracker. When my son started kindergarten and the boys were separated from the girls, (boys bathroom, boys line, etc) he realized that he was the only boy in dance he opted out. hehe Too bad too because he stole the show at every single recital!
my only regret is not having taken dance classes sooner in life.
My little one and I did a “Mom and Tot” dance class last winter, and the new semester starts soon. This time, I think moms are supposed to sit and let their little ones dance on their own. I’m excited to see my baby move on her own. I took dance when I was a child as well, and I really enjoyed it.
I took ballet when I was young and I still regret giving it up – 25 years later.
My two girls take dance in Salt Lake City, the studio puts on a big Nutcracker every year at the big Catholic School out here. Oh is it worth it to see those two dance around as cookies or a mouse or a candy cane. They just adore it.
Simply adorable. I love dance and enjoy it to this day. My sons might never take dance but I hope my little nieces will. BTW, I have a giveaway over at my blog http://aspoonfulofdish.blogspot.com, come on over and check it out.
My children take after me in the physically un-coordinated department, and from what I’ve seen of girls dance I’m kind of glad. I wish I could find some good fun dancing for them because I know they’d enjoy it, and it’s good excersize, but most of the dance I’ve seen reminds me of strippers in training, and I’m not a fan of it for my girls!
my daughter will be taking dance lessons when she turns 3. she will also be taking ice skating lessons as well. though, she wants to be a goalie for the philadelphia flyers…mmm… a goalie in a tutu perhaps????