The Girls' Performing Arts Plans For The Year

Besides all the usual activities this school year (homework, piano teaching, church callings, etc.), all three of my girls will be participating in some sort of big performance late next spring. This is the first school year I've enrolled all three of my girls in some sort of extra-curricular activity. It has meant for a very busy few weeks, but I figure I'd better get used to it, because this is my life from now on! It's time to accept that I'm a mother of kids now, not just babies, and kids love to stay busy.

Anyway, here's what each of my girls has going on this year (from youngest to oldest):

Aurora is trying out dance class for the first time! I had a hard time deciding if we should sign Aurora up for dance class or soccer...she is a very fast runner and very high-energy, and she also has an aggressive streak that I suspect would make her a fierce sports competitor. In the end, though, I decided to give Aurora the chance to dance for a while. She has always been so jealous of her older sisters' dance classes, and she loves to wear Celeste's old tutus and flounce around the house. That made the decision easier.

Aurora is in the Creative Dance class, which is mostly just wiggling around and acting goofy. But Aurora is really excited by it; she feels very grown-up putting on her leotard and getting dropped off to dance on her own, without Mom hovering around. Her class is in the Sahuarita Dance studio in the southern part of town, so it's a little bit of a drive away, but so far so good! If she sticks it out, she and Celeste will be performing at the big annual recital next May.

Speaking of Celeste, she is returning to the Sahuarita Dance studio, after taking a year off for preschool last year. Since she has always been very into dancing, this felt like the easiest choice as far as my girls' extra-curricular activities went. Once in a while, Celeste says she also wants to play soccer, and I remember Lorelai's soccer seasons, when Celeste complained non-stop about how boring the game was, and fled the games at every opportunity. I suspect she only thinks she wants to play soccer, just because that's what Lorelai did at the same age. And then Celeste comes back from dance class and declares, "I love ballet! I ALWAYS want to do ballet!!"...and I feel that order has been restored into the universe.

This year, Celeste is doing Ballet I, with a few bigger girls. She's also the only girl in her class who doesn't have a pink leotard (hers is blue). The first day, she was ashamed of this fact, even though no one said anything mean to her. I think she's over that insecurity now, thankfully. Personally, I love that my daughter stands out in the class, both in costume and in beauty and personality (because I am not at ALL biased!).

Lorelai is breaking some new ground this year. In past years, she's danced, played soccer, played baseball, and taken part in a few after-school clubs. Over the last year, I've also started giving her piano lessons and she is starting to really do well at that and understand it a lot better. This year, we were trying to decide what she would like best; Lorelai wants to try a little bit of everything and she's always looking for new experiences. I just signed her up for a beginning karate class at the local community center. I suspect she will really enjoy karate; it has enough "action" to keep her entertained, yet it will also teach her discipline and self-control. Plus, it is a "solo" sport, which is good for Nathan and I, since we are a bit burned out on team sports for the time being. We blame Lorelai's baseball season this last winter for this.

However, a new and different extra-curricular activity also came up within the last month. It was an activity I was very excited about, and which I encouraged Lorelai to sign up for:

Our charter school will be putting on a play this year! Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, to be exact. Tryouts were open for everyone at school from 3rd to 8th grade. The play's director is a friend and a former visiting teacher. I encouraged Lorelai to go try out, telling her she would have a great time no matter what part she got. This I know from personal experience...my siblings and I did a lot of children's theater, and I was involved in several plays in high school. I was even president of the drama club! And yet, I never had a major role in any play. I had a lot of fun being a crew member, or even just a chorus member. Theater is hard work but exhilirating. I hoped Lorelai would feel the same way.

Lorelai got the CD with the tryout music on it. She sang along happily to it all week. She went, she tried out...and she got a part! It's a small part, granted (she has one whole line!), but she will also fill in as a lady-in-waiting and a general chorus member. She is excited, and she's already been to one rehearsal. Some of her friends also got parts, and I think it will be a fun way to bond with them...so long as they don't release their inner drama queens! I am so excited to see her in a bunch of cute costumes, singing and dancing. I hope she has a lot of fun. The school will be working on the play all year long; it will be performed at the end of April. It should be a busy but fun experience, and I look forward to seeing the final results.

Now let's see if I don't go crazy shuttling my little performers back and forth the whole school year!