BALLET CAMP April 20-26th

This is most of what we learned: I loved teaching the girls the positions and small ballet movements like degages and tendus. I played music at the start of 'class' every day and encouraged them to use what they learned the day before, spin/twirl, or just listen. There was some really pretty worship music on Daryl's laptop (the on that's here with me in Kenya), which was  useful. Then we went though one position at a time, and reviewed them every day. We did our stretches, practiced plies and exercises at the barre, and then finished up with a segments of my "Ballet Beautiful" workout DVD. They're short and interesting (but not too hard), so that worked perfectly. At the end of the week, they all wanted to continue and do more, -me too! It was a sweet & special time with the girls, and I was so impressed with how they listened and remembered everything. They are all so smart and beautiful <3

First day, and first position :)

Tendu ("to point the toe") Left to right: Hannah, Cisco, Mercy 2, Mercy 1, Mercy 6, Baby Mercy <3, Small Sharon, and in the middle is Elizabeth, my youngest little ballerina. 

watching and getting ready to start one of the ballet videos.

We pushed all the benches against the wall to form a barre, but no one wanted to stay at their place on the barre- that was the biggest challenge. I eventually took the time to explain spreading out and not crowding together so that everyone could practice their exercises without bumping or blocking each other. I still had to say 'go stand next to the bench, not right on top of me' at least 12 times every afternoon (we had ballet from 2-3 PM Monday-Friday). As you can see in this picture, I'm directing Mercy away from me. It's hard because they want to be close to you, and it's hard to organize 20 girls! Our dining room is pretty echoey, so when all of them started talking, shouting, etc., it was impossible to get their attention. I think maybe the most important thing was learning to listen and be quiet when I asked them to. Also, I think it's a way for them to feel beautiful and graceful, accomplished/skilled at something, and to have a meaningful activity and some structure in a usually unstructured day.  

<3

Courtney tok this picture for us, and she said "everybody pick your favorite position!"