Ballet 1A year one (most students take 1A for two years) is the year that tends to make or break a ballerina's commitment to the sport. While James never complained last year (because he didn't know any better, as it was his first year and he had nothing to compare it to), Cora has been fussing for the entirety of this year. At age 8, they no longer take a combo class (ballet + tap or ballet + jazz for a half hour each) or a short ballet class (PreBallet is 45 minutes and very similar in format to the ballet section of the combo classes), but an hour long ballet class in which the majority of the time (usually 45 minutes) is spent at the barre. Ballet 1A is the class where ballerinas learn harder moves, recite the names of the positions, and work really hard at strengthening and stretching, technique and form. To Cora, it is BORING. It will get a bit more fun when they start running their recital routine soon, but even so, she'll have another year of 1A before she can move up to 1B. Knowing this, she is already talking about quitting dance next year.
Jay and I have let her (and James) know that it is completely their choice which sport(s) and other extracurricular activities they do. Our only rule is that they choose at least one physical activity (sport or exercise class) and at least one non-physical activity (Scouts, music, art, etc.) for general life balance, skill development, relationship and friendship opportunities, physical health, and confidence building. Not to mention keeping them busy enough when they get older that they don't have too much idle time in which they can get themselves into trouble...
We have really grown to love our dance family over the years (Cora has been dancing for almost 5.5 years now) and the excitement of the recitals, but we get it. They have such limited free time (between dance, soccer, Scouts, and piano, oh, and the free art class) that we are currently committed to after school activities every single night of the week. It's a lot for anyone, but especially for an 8 and 9 year old (who probably need to be spending more time on homework and studying, honestly). We have let the kids know that we fully support a decision to focus on a single sport because at some point in the near future they'll really NEED to. As we've seen with soccer this year, having both kids on Rec+ teams and traveling to tournaments, adding 1-2 practices per week, plus the regular Rec practices and games, it's a huge commitment. Soccer is slightly different than dance in that most of the year, dance is an individual sport (it isn't until they start prepping for recital that they work on group formations), while soccer is a team effort every single time you're on the field. And the kids truly love soccer. So, just fair warning that this may be our final year of posting dance recital portraits and watching teary eyed from the audience as they perform the skills they spent their year honing. I'm not sure yet how I'll personally feel about it (I never wanted to be a dance mom, but it's certainly grown on me and I think I do a pretty good job), but the excitement of the soccer games (stress, anxiety, yelling, and cheering!) will likely more than make up for the glamour of the stage. I get teary eyed at soccer games too. When the kids make a great pass, wow the coaches with their focus and split second decision making, show amazing team spirit on and off the field, and grin from ear to ear when they score a goal (or make a critical assist to another player's goal), mama cries the happy tears. (But... if they decided to keep with dance too, that would be ok - it's a LOT, but if they are happy and giving EVERYTHING their best efforts, we'd make it work. We just haven't seen the effort at the barre this year, and I find that very telling.)
