Journey to pointe

I always knew Pumpkin Girl would be a dancer. Well, not always, but I knew early on.

By the time she was almost two, she didn’t walk – she flitted, like a fairy. I enrolled her and myself into a “mom and me” creative movement class. She didn’t like it. She did look cute, though.

When she was 5 we tried again, with a ballet-tap combo class. At the last moment she didn’t want to go. It was time for class and her eyes were filling with tears. Miss Renee, her teacher, bent down to her level and asked if she wanted to have fun. Pumpkin said yes and Miss Renee said they were going to have lots of fun, then took her hand and led her into the classroom.

Soon it was clear that she was made to dance.

The road has not always been easy for her. We had her switch studios after we’d been here for a year to a school with ballet as its primary focus. She struggled learning new terms and unlearning some bad habits. She even cried almost every day of her summer classes.

In time she learned to love her new studio.

Over the last 6 years, Pumpkin Girl has been growing in grace and skill. When she dances, her face lights up and it is clear that there is no place in the world she would rather be.

This past summer we waited and waited for an important email to arrive from her ballet studio. We were on vacation when it came, about to get in an elevator.
When we got out, we stepped to the side to read the email on my phone. It was the news she’d been hoping for: she had been selected to start pre-pointe classes over the summer and go en pointe this Fall.

And here we are. After many hours of training, the moment every little aspiring ballerina can only hope will happen for her…

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