Dancing Through Life

This week was the parent observation night for Cannon's ballet.  

Umm..he's pretty good.  It was so enjoyable to watch his class and see him in his element. 

There is one other boy in his class, but he won't be returning next year. 

I took a lot of pictures and videos--- they will all pretty much be the same thing-- Cannon and a bunch of girls doing ballet.  It is very  much my cup of tea.

I would tell you the names of the moves he is doing, but it's all Greek (French) to me.

I can hardly believe how they work these kids during class.  Oh, man!  It looks so hard!  And they are all so disciplined-- these kids mean business.

Here is a little compilation video of some clips I took during the class.

And here is a video of the dance they performed at the Children's Showcase last weekend.

At the end of the class they kids were given their envelopes with their progress reports for the year.  They are given scores in all sorts of categories and placed in their class for next year.  Since this was Cannon's first year at Ballet West, and it is not at all uncommon to spend two years at a level, we expected he would either stay where he was (Elementary D) or move up to the next level (Intermediate A).  We would have been great with either.  

To our very great surprise, he was given excellent marks throughout and moved up TWO LEVELS!!! What the heck?!

He'll be in Intermediate B and working harder than ever!  There was a note saying it was unusual for a student to move up two levels, but they thought he would progress well.  

Maybe this is standard for boys.  Maybe they have another boy they want to put Cannon with so he isn't the lone boy (not that he minds... he doesn't). Maybe they need a boy in that level.  Or maybe, they see what we see-- a kid who has a passion for ballet, incredible focus and a determination to work hard.  Maybe all of the above.  Whatever the reason, he's a little nervous and a lot excited.