2012 Steppin' Together Dance Recital

There's a certain look Ava gets on her face when she decides to transform herself into another character.  She gets serious, her eyes get dark & her jaw sets.  When she was dancing, I swear she just knew she was Michael Jackson in his "Beat It" video!  When she was done, she looked so satisfied.  "How'd you like those apples?" :-)

Bronwen, on the otherhand, focused on the audience.  I could imagine her envisioning how awesome she looked on the stage, in front of hundreds of people.  You could see that at that moment, she was on the show, "Dancing with the Stars," mesmerizing everyone with her brilliant moves. :-)

Both girls stole the show.  They worked very hard for about five months on their routine, coming home humming the song & sometimes showing us some of their moves.  Out of the dance genres they've had over the past 3.5 years, I think they hit their stride with hip hop.  To me this is the best type of dance to learn anyway because what are they going to do when they're older, bust out a piroutte at the club?  LOL!

If anyone lives in the Renton area, I highly recommend checking out the City of Renton's recreational programs -especially the dance classes for girls & boys.  Formal classes in the program start when children are at least 3 & go all the way up to the teenage years.  This year, their instructor was Monae Thomas, who happens to be the dance coordinator for the Seattle Storm dancers.  How cool is that?

It's not about putting your children in classes to be a world class dancer (although who knows?!).  It's about building confidence (I dance!  I can go onstage & perform!), learning teamwork (I am responsible for learning the routine so we all look good out there as a team), discipline (I need to go to class every week, so I can learn) & most of all, learning, "I can!!!!"

There are so many people who tell you you can't do things in life, & we need to tell our children that THEY CAN DO ANYTHING!!!!!  Why not?  Help your children believe in themselves.  It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.