My Tiny Dancer

Boo loves to dance. She is really very good. I never even knew she was a dancer until her friends convinced her to participate in a program called S.T.E.P.S at her elementary school three years ago. Until then, she had never shown any inclination for dance. Anyway, the S.T.E.P.S program provided a free weekly dance lesson to students interested...and no child was turned away. She would stay every Monday after school, but she never talked about what she was learning or what they did...then came the night of the year-end recital. Her natural ability impressed me so much that I immediately called around to local dance studios to enroll her in whatever classes I could. We were so blessed to have found the studio and teacher that we did. She just completed her second year of formal dance instruction. Last year, she did a combination class of tap, ballet, and jazz. We also did quite a few private lessons to create and rehearse a tap routine for her pageants. This year, the studio owner told her that she was too advanced to continue with the group she had been placed with, so she would be moving to the advanced classes of her choice. She decided to continue with tap and to try lyrical dance. As it turns out, she doesn't like tap so much any more (she says it is too hard), but lyrical dance is totally her thing. I have a horrible recording of her lyrical performance at the recital last night...she is the tiny one. My tiny dancer, aged 12, amid her troupe of high school aged dancers, who have years of experience behind them...