Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza

Song Lyric of the Day:

Hold me closer tiny dancer / Count the headlights on the highway / Lay me down in sheets of linen / You had a busy day today

Elton John / “Tiny Dancer“

A couple of months ago Rich and I enrolled Coraline in her first ballet class. Technically, it’s a jazz/ballet/creative movement/gymnastics class, but we call it ballet for simplicity’s sake. Coraline loves it, and so do we. It’s been so much fun watching her make new friends and to learn how to do first position, second position, and plie, among other ballet moves. She’s also learned the ball-shuffle-change move in tap, heel-toe moves, toe taps, and so on. She then goes insane — as does her whole class — when it’s time to switch to gymnastics for the last half of class. With a bit of encouragement, she now loves braving new things like the parallel bars, the balance beam, and the uneven bars — all with the instructor’s assistance, of course. Coraline is also now an ace tumbler after a less-than-spectacular start.

Coraline’s class’ recital is this weekend, the stuff of my mother’s dreams. See, once upon a time, young Pattie was enrolled in ballet class. And little Pattie whined after every class about how tired she was. Which always got the same response from her mother: “But you’ll be such a pretty ballerina!” It’s basically become family lore that I failed as a ballerina. Me, the klutz who broke my toe walking out of a room, remember? I can admit that I have hardly any grace, and I’ve made my peace with that. But my mom — oh, boy. She might literally have bells on this weekend, she’s so excited for Coraline’s recital. At least Coraline truly enjoys her class. No whining about being tired afterward from her! In fact, she’s excited about starting the next level of class, because she’s my girl and she’s awesome. Sure, she has maybe an ounce more grace than I do, but she pours her heart into learning her steps.

I’ll be wearing my own set of bells for her recital this weekend.

First day of class (3/26/14)

Tiny ballerina feet

Preparing to twirl

Practicing some of that creative movement

If there’s one thing Coraline is aces at, it’s the bows. The child is all about the bows.

Coraline is always more than happy to pose for a photo when she’s in her ballet outfit.

Twirling

Look at that bow — she has more grace than me after all!

My beautiful ballerina

*This post’s title is taken from one of my favorite jokes on Friends, courtesy of Phoebe.