Pink Tulle and Rose Petals From Now On

- By Schnockered Mom Natalie

We decided to sign Kate up for Ballet classes this summer. She's expressed some interest in dance ever since seeing the "big" girls at her school perform their tap routines. I finally found a pre-ballet class at City Ballet for 3 year olds that meets on Saturday mornings. The school is in Pacific Beach so these mornings will be a great way for Jon and me to get some exercise running at the beach while Kate tip-toes around for 45 minutes.

Last Saturday we drove down to the school for her to just watch so we could gauge Kate's interest. The moment she saw hangers full of pink tulle she was hooked. The studio was filled with adorable prima ballerinas strutting and flounced their long ponytails about. The little girls started class by running in a circle on their tip-toes with their hands on their hips. They pretended to pick up beautiful flowers with delicate "ballerina fingers." They practiced pretty toes (pointed) and ugly toes (flexed). The added bonus was that the teacher spoke Spanish as much as she spoke English. Ballet and Spanish class in one. Awesome!

After 15 minutes of watching these exercises, Kate started inching her way towards the line of girls wanting to give it a try. That's when I decided to sign her up and get out of dodge before she threw a fit because she couldn't join in.

We went straight out to buy her the required uniform - pastel pink leotard, pastel pink tights and pastel pink ballet slippers - at the Capezio store in the mall. Kate was in girlie heaven with all the frills and tutus and pink stuff hanging about. I was shocked to see that these little leotards ran for $40 plus! We found a few that were 40% off and headed for the fitting room. Her round belly made finding the right leotard a challenge. The proportions were all off. They pulled around the middle while gaping at the leg. I guess they don't outfit many pot-bellied ballerinas in this store.

We finally found one that fit her well, which of course she asked to wear home. I remember what that was like when I was a kid so the obvious answer was yes. We worked our way past the frilly skirts of tulle and rose petals towards the door before she latched onto anything else. She finally bounded out of the store with her unbridled energy. Her arms were extended over her head and she jumped around erratically. A passerby said, "Oh, look at the princess." She yelled back at the top of her lungs as if insulted, "No, I'm a ballerina!" I was inwardly pleased. Ballerinas are lauded for their talent and athleticism, not for being born of the right family or married into it.

Kate then raced ahead of us emulating the tip-toe run she saw hours before. She occasionally jumped and threw her arms above her head before breaking into a sprint. Tip-toe running was a little too slow for her, I think. Everyone we passed, literally everyone, stared and laughed at our round little girl in her pink leotard with red and white striped underwear hanging out the leg. It was a sight to be seen.

I hope she's still excited to go to class tomorrow. Something tells me as soon as I pull the ballet shoes and pink leotard out from my closet (I had to confiscate them so they wouldn't get thrashed before her first class) her inner ballerina will be released once again and it won't be hard to convince her to go.