Tiny Dancer

Let the great "catch-up on the blog" festivities begin!

taking flight

Little Josephine has been taking ballet lessons at the Cincinnati Ballet Academy since January.  She's always been quite the dancer and was blessed with the gift of the Johnson-rhythm that I know makes her DD (and would definitely make her Great Grand-Nana) very proud.  (As an infant in our Tiny Tunes family music class, she could just naturally pick up the beat of any song and would clap and tap along perfectly with the rhythm. Even now when she hears a song or sings she automatically taps her toe or pats her hand to the beat. I hope she gets the Johnson "perfect ear" for playing instruments too!)  Anyway, I digress...

yes sweet josie, we're watching

So the Ballet School is pretty serious. Not quite "Black Swan" serious, but close. We actually didn't know this when we enrolled her and were a little surprised at what we saw during the only Parent Observation day of this semester.  Make no mistake, they are training ballerinas - from the tender age of three. And those little ballerinas fall right in line. Now the instructor certainly isn't mean, but she's strict and she has very high expectations. And if you close your eyes and imagine Mademoiselle So-and-So ballet instructor you just about nailed it. She has this great ballet instructor accent and it's all just perfectly perfect. (This type of discipline really is good for Josie. And, a little to our surprise, she loves the class - even with its obvious lack of warm-fuzziness.)

working on the routine

1, 2, 3, 4... 1, 2, 3, 4...

her partner for the spring production

fly little bird fly

getting some air

I forgot to mention that this big parent day at the CBA took place when little Roly was just four days old. There was NO way we were going to miss our only chance to see Josie's class and *somehow* we managed to get both girls out of the house that morning and even managed a trip to the pediatrician in on our way there (Bea was having cord issues).  I was still in "less than a week postpartum" condition so Lou got me seated and carried in the carseat with sleeping Beatrice and then it was completely up to him to get Josie in her uniform, pull up her hair, etc.  Doesn't she look great? (Good job Daddy. Those ponytails get better and better each time. My guess is that with two daughter you'll be able to open up your own salon by the time they're in Junior High.)

Josephine's big show is May 1st at the Aronoff center downtown.  She's in the youngest age group and it's going to be fun to see the full range from the first class to the adults. There's no doubt that the fancy costume and big stage have been Josie's motivation for taking ballet all along. We can hardly wait!  She'll have the summer off and then we'll see if she wants to continue with the program in the fall.