dance camp

J spent 6 hours a day for the past two weeks in dance camp, or, as he would refer to it, heaven. This is his old instructor's new school, and he was very excited to be back working with her again, along with a few kids he already knew from his old school, and a few new kids that he just met. The camp was for dancers ages 10 and up, but it was a better fit for J than the younger kids' camp, so I'm glad we went with the older group, even though it meant he was the "little guy".

The first week was a group of younger kids, average age seemed to be about 12. They had a blast, did a bunch of classes, and worked on the National Dance Day dance (which you saw in my last post). The second week was a much older group, most of them having been assistant instructors at the old school, average age about 15. Because this group was so advanced, they did a lot of choreography this past week, which was a whole new experience for J. Both of the videos in this post are dances that they choreographed together as a group (and that I managed to snag by sneaking in early before pickup).

J had a wonderful time, and is now facing some major decisions in regards to his fall schedule. What will he take at his new dance school (the one that specializes in ballet)? What will he take at the school he had camp at? (More variety of classes, some of which he can't get at his new school.) What about his new school's production of The Nutcracker? What about chorus?

He was in tears yesterday at the thought of having to make these choices. I told him that he's still got a couple of weeks before he needs to decide. This morning I sat down with him and a blank weekly schedule, on which I filled in the things that I am requiring that he does this fall(participation in the Monday Homeschool Classes, OT, morning schoolwork here at home, and Spanish class). I then helped him pencil in all the possibilities for classes and activities that he's expressed an interest in doing. Since everything did fit into the schedule, and since I know that he won't over-schedule himself as he also values having free time, I told him that he can choose to do all of them, none of them, or any number of them that he wants. And then I left it with him to ponder over the next two weeks, at which point we'll sit down again and sort it all out.

Meanwhile, for my own amusement and education, I signed myself up for an adult Jazz/Hip-Hop class on Wednesday nights. Anyone out there want to join me?? I'm bound to make you look really, really good....