500th blog post special: My experience of baby ballet - Dance Saturday

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, 

It's my 500th blog post special today and that has got to mean one thing only, I have to tell an embarrassing story! I hope you enjoy!

When I was very young, about the age of 3 years old, I joined this dance class called baby ballet. I do not give credit to this event being the defining point of my dance journey, where I first learnt how to move because I very much hated going to ballet. Having taught baby ballet myself during my year 10 work experience, I know what propels mothers to send their girls to classes and it is because of the simple fact that they can place their daughters in cute leotards and tutus and tiny ballet slippers and play dress up as adults. This was the main reason why my mum put me and my older sister Alice, in these classes as well because she also wanted to dress us up all pretty and cute. I have a nice little photo of me and Alice doing a nice tendu en devant in our burgundy red leotards, smiling and looking happy. It turns out however, that my mum had to drag me to the studio because I hated it so much. I don't know exactly what caused my distaste but I guess it was just the fact that I wanted to run around and be free and mucky, not having to wear a girly tutu. Plus, it didn't help that my studio at the time was not the best. I remember going to do a performance at this theatre and my parents couldn't even come and watch because my teacher had organised the seating situation really badly. When it came to my turn to dance, I cried because I was scared and I didn't want to dance without my parents watching in the audience. My sister, being the excellent role model that she was, was the only one out of me and her who did dance that day but she had one of those teachers who danced alongside the group during the performance so I think that helped!

I do regret not having stuck at ballet more because I have now found that it is the foundation of dance and it really does give you a core for you to pursue other dance styles, like hip-hop. I ended up going to a different studio later on at the age of 7 years old, where I first learnt street dance and I think me and my sister thoroughly enjoyed our time there. This previous view of ballet did taint our outlook of the dance style, which is why I think we didn't take ballet classes but I do think that had we done it at our new studio, we would have loved it. Everyone regrets something in their life and for me, this is one of those things. 

However, at those ballet classes, we met some very good friends. We met Mike and Sarah and their two daughters Ella and Sophie who both went to ballet and still attend the same studio to this day. We haven't seen them in a while because of lockdown but I'm glad that our paths crossed. Sadly, Mike was the one who had passed away from motor neuron disease a few years ago but we still try and keep in touch with Ella and Sophie who are both similar ages to me and my sister. I like the social aspect of dance and how it can still bring people together.

I hope that this was a nice 500th blog post special. Baby ballet was certainly a traumatic experience for my parents! 😂💜

Have you ever taken ballet classes when you were young? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!

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Bye,

XOX, Juliette

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