I hope you dance...

dance year is almost over :)
Recital tomorrow and Sunday, photo's next week then recital's next weekend, and then it's summer vacation.

I love the look on children's faces when they get a chance to perform on stage. They walk out, and the lights go on, and everyone goes "awwww" (well, to my younger student's anyway) their music starts and they just DANCE! Sometimes they forget their routine, sometimes they cry, I've had kids pee backstage, but they always come off and say "Ms. Rebecca, can we do it again?" I just love that moment when they realize that all the hard work that they put in from September-June pays off when they have fun on stage.
For most of my 3 and 4 year olds, it's their first time, and the older student's get, the more of a sense of accomplishment they have when they are done their dance. The jumps, turns and trick's that they worked at ALL year all turn out flawlessly and a lot of the older student's leave the audience in awe with their ariels, walkovers and flips.

I pride myself on being a teacher that doesn't care how good her student's are, or how together they are, but making sure that they have fun while they dance. That is what makes them come back next year, and want to take my classes. I changed up my schedule next year, and am not teaching some of the same classes that I have in the last couple years, but they keep asking what classes I am teaching so that they can take my class again. That gives me more joy that anything I've ever done in my life. One year I danced at a fundraiser called Dancers for Cancer. I raised over $4000 for cancer research, and while I was very happy with my results and fundraising efforts, I felt happier and more accomplished when my dancer's took the stage after me and performed a very inspirational contemporary routine. One of the 8 year olds came off stage and said "I want to dance for that audience every day." The audience was full of children and adults that were all battling with cancer themselves. That made me the happiest teacher in the world, that my student's were able to take my passion and love for dance, instill it in themselves, and share it with other people.


I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance