Curly is dancing non-stop. She takes a total of at least 6 1/2 hours of dance per week (more many weeks), but that isn't what I am talking about. Before she lost her mojo she danced everywhere we went. It drove me crazy! Then through the experience of being told she wasn't good enough by insensitive teachers she lost her passion. She stopped dancing. As much as I wanted her to stand still in the grocery line, I was so sad for her. Then all of a sudden she started again recently. At least now it is lyrical instead of noisy tap. It is such a symbol of the reawakening of her love of dance. I am so happy for her. However I am worried about what the future holds for her. She is definitely a big fish in a little pond when it comes to the competitive team she is on now. In truth there is only one girl who is anywhere near the dancer Curly is, and she doesn't have the technical training to back up her natural gifts. This status is one of the reason Curly has gotten her confidence back, but the situation will not allow for growth. The best thing about this team is that next weekend they have a recital with student choreographed works. Curly choreographed a solo to "The Lonely" by Christina Perri and a duet with a friend to "Courage Is" by The Strange Familiar. They are both very good, but her solo is as good if not better than anything the group is doing (including the stuff choreographed by the teachers). The director of the program sent me an e-mail telling me that so it is not just a mother's pride. I can't wait to see her next weekend, but once that is done I am not sure what will happen. The competition season starts right after, and they are totally unprepared. They are supposed to do three dances, but they barely have one ready to go. They have new teachers and they have no idea how to lead. So they waste so much time! It's frustrating for Curly.
So we are committed for the rest of the year, but what then? I think another year of this team would be a waste unless they seriously got their act together. I am not ready to make a commitment to a big studio again because Curly is not cut out for highly competitive environments. One of her current teammate's mom thinks we should go rogue and enter them as independents to some of the competitions with their own choreography. Curly's choreography is very good, but she isn't experienced enough to put together a dance that could win against professionally choreographed routines.
Bear's gymnastics season is almost halfway over! Hard to believe. She is doing well, although the her scores are a bit lower than she wants. It seems that in level five 9's are hard to come by. Now that she has her blood sugar under control she seems to be enjoying it more. Still I HATE our gym. There I said it. It's really too bad because the owner of this gym was the reason I picked it. At the time I felt like he was very involved in the business, and knew nearly all the kids who went there. Then his wife had a baby, and he became unbelievably distant. So bad that he has not seen our level compete one time! He was actually at the place we were competing several times and left when we got there. That really makes me mad. We are fortunate to have two coaches that care about our girls, but if we didn't I couldn't stay there. Julie our floor and beam coach will be leaving after this year (although I am hoping we can convince her to stay through the following year). If that happens I don't know how they will replace her. The upper level beam coach is leaving too. The owner seems to have trouble keeping coaches, and so I am hoping we don't end up with the inconsistencies that some of the other levels have had.
Anyway, there is an update on the things troubling me with the girls activities. I will post soem good things about their activities soon!!
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