Kids

Between Capezio and the Dance Studio, I am pretty much around kids all day long. We're probably still years out from having children of our own, but I love talking with kids and teaching them and generally spending time with them (as long as they aren't licking the mirror in dance class. Not cool, student who will remain unnamed). Today there were a few really good kid encounters:

One of my sweetest little 4-year-old students told the class that she was going to have a baby brother soon. When I asked if he had a name yet, here's what happened:
Lila: Well, my sister prefers Theodore.
Me: That's a very nice name! What name do you like?
Lila: Well . . . I think I'm preferring Theodore also.
Me: And then you could call him Theo for short!
All 10 students: Theo?!?!?!?
Apparently The Cosby show isn't well known among the 4-year-old set. But the word "preferring" draws no eyebrows?

And then, standing in front of the $1 movie vending machine at the grocery store, I felt a prick in my back. A little Korean boy, probably 5 (so cute, and definitely made me miss our neices and nephews) was poking me with a spiderman action figure. His mom was a few feet away, looking at the fruit. He started asking/telling me about the row of spiderman stickers in a sticker vending machine.
Boy: Do you see these? Spiderman. But these guys [pointing to a few stickers] are bad.
Me: Oh that's the green goblin. He is a bad guy.
Boy: And this [points to scary sticker] is venom. [Then starts counting the stickers] Spiderman, spiderman, spiderman.
Me: [Pointing to his action figure] And that's spiderman!
Boy: [Excitedly] Where?!
Me: Right there, in your hand.
Boy: Oh that's a toy.

Also, today at the store I got to fit two best friends for their first pairs of pointe shoes. If you aren't a dancer (or the parent of one), it may be hard to understand what a big deal it is to go up on pointe. It's basically like a girl becoming a woman, and it also means that you are one of the chosen few, someone who has what it takes both physically and emotionally to be one of the best (If you choose to stick with it). When a former ballet dancer tells you she used to dance, she almost always refers to pointe, as in "I did it for years, but stopped right before I got up on pointe," or, "I danced all through high school, but quit when I got to college. I miss pointe though." In all honesty, pointe is brutally painful, often stressful, and not at all necessary to be a top dancer in anything but ballet. But I still think about dancing on pointe every day.
All that is to say that these girls were excited, nervous, and more excited. They were young, 9 (almost 10) and 10, but I could see that their ankles were strong, and the studio where they dance takes prepointe (the class in which you prepare for pointe, and do excercises in pointe only at the barre) very seriously. I myself was a little nervous to do two first fittings at the same time, since a first fitting can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, there were only two of us at the store, and Saturdays are crazy busy. But they were both happily fitted in under an hour. That hour ended up being delightful, full of giggles (them) and questions (both moms) and stories (everyone). It was just another indication to me that preteens might be my favorite age to work with. I am fascinated by the way they shift between emotions so quickly and fully. It's not teen angst, it's actual sincere fluctuation in the way they feel about the world around them at any given moment in time.
For example, in one of my jazz dance classes a few weekes ago a 5th grader asked to leave to use the restroom. We were in the middle of a little "assignment" I had given to the students to take an across-the-floor combination they had just learned and add a jump, a turn, and a moment on the floor. The student returned from the restroom just as I was telling the class they had one more minute before they would show their modified combination to their friends. She jumped into working on her combination and I turned to the stereo, only to hear a muffled "M-m-miss Jeannie." I turned around and there she was, with actual tears streaming down her face. "I was in the bathroom. I'm not ready!" she sobbed. I told her to just do the original combination again, and she mustered out an "okay" before walking away. 30 seconds later she was happily leaping across the room.
This is just one example. It happens just about every day. A student will say they're feeling a little sick, and I'll tell them to do their best, and they seem okay with it. Then the next thing I know they're panicked, calling for their mom and crying. It's not an act; that is life when you're a kid. Most anyone I know would say I'm a pretty emotional person, but I sometimes think my students see the world in brighter colors than I do. And those colors change faster. Even though it's a little startling at times, I like this part of working with kids. They embrace every little success and get excited about every new surprise. I am trying to learn to harness these quick changes and use them to my advantage to take the scary out of performing and the boring out of repetition. Calling a simple exercise "THE CHALLENGE!" and adding "DUN DUN DUNNNN!" every time I mention it has a way of changing the colors in the room from dull to vibrant.
But then of course someone's shoe comes untied and they all start crying . . .