Julia is a Ballerina

This is what I want to remember about Julia and ballet. For the record.

My girl started ballet at a little studio across the street from our school when she was in second grade but she's always had the dance thing in her. It was actually rather embarrassing to watch her toddler self shimmy and shake like a bona fide disco queen...I always feared someone would accuse me of swapping out her daily dose of Dora for Flashdance...but, nevertheless, her dance moves have always had a certain sophistication. Last year she moved to a new and bigger ballet studio. They didn't quite know what to do with her. Her previous school officially topped out at Ballet II but a group of four girls wanted to stay on with their talented teacher so they were allowed to stay. Practically private lessons + highly motivated girls = whopping fast progress. The next level for her is to go en pointe but her body is simply not big, old and strong enough. So she waits. Right now she is dancing 3 days a week (should be 4 but she still wants to take Chinese so her schedule is too tight) and rehearsing 2 hours a week for her school's rendition of the Nutcracker. Last week I peeked in at rehearsal. Watching her dance is poetry. How is it that the curve of the arm, the tilt of the head, the strength of the posture and the sweep of a foot can together add up to so much more than each individual motion? Must be the payoff for all those toddler shimmy shakes.