Ballet meets the rest of life!

Last night was the much anticipated start of dance classes for Bug! I've been wanting to put her in dance for almost a year now and it's finally worked out. She has been obsessed with dancing for awhile and she seems to have a natural rhythm (thanks for her Daddy!) and I thought it would be the perfect creative outlet for her. Honestly, when I started looking for a place I had NO idea what I was looking for! I've never done dance, never been involved with anyone that has really been in dance so I had no clue. I knew I wanted her to go somewhere fairly small where she would get a little more attention and not be completely lost in a class. I also didn't want to go somewhere where the teachers were snotty or rude or treated me like I was completely stupid. I had two small studios in mind around here - one I could never reach, the other one I did reach and she was very nice, very helpful and the price seemed right. I had been by the location downtown a couple of times and it seemed nice. So last night we started, I knew ahead of time that I kinda wanted to go in and do a month "trial" run to make sure it was the place for Gianna and to make sure I liked how things were handled and run. My first surprise was meeting the owner, who I had talked to on a couple of occasions. Wow. Not what I was expecting at all. She sounds rather classy and put together on the phone - voices can be SO deceiving! Lol! I did notice the studio seemed a little chilly and the owner reeked of cigarette smoke (no offense to those who do smoke but the smell makes me nauseated.). She informed me they've been having issue with their heat ( and of course Gianna's leotard was short sleeved.) but they were moving (Great!), but maybe not till Spring (What?!). Then we met Gianna's actual teacher - she wasn't rude but she was very nice either. I'm pretty sure she never actually looked me in the eye or spoke to me. I also found out her daughter is the only other child Gianna's age and in her class. I had been led to believe there was 2 or 3 other girls her age. They said that the teacher was more comfortable if the parents left because kids tend to pay more attention when their parents are sitting right there, which I totally agree with. And it was only 30 minutes so we went and walked around downtown and and then came back which I was ok with. The studio is just one huge room so it wasn't a problem.....until I got back and the teacher was packing up stuff and I stood there waiting for her to speak to me, and she never did. I finally said, "So is that all? We just come back next week?" And she said, Yeah, she did good.... What? That's it? She didn't tell me what they did, what they practiced, nothing. I left fuming. And next week, like it or not, I'm staying. Because I have this feeling they aren't working with them a whole lot. Don't get me wrong, I want this to be fun for Gianna, I really do but I also want her to learn and be apart of a structured class where she is actually learning so technique. So needless to say my search for dance classes and studios is not over. We paid for the month and that's it, after this I'm done with that place. Far too unprofessional. Not only was the studio cold but it was disorganized and dirty. I don't expect perfection but I expect professional. So sadly to say, even though Gianna seemed to have fun and wants to go back I'm not looking forward to it. This was SO not how I envisioned her first night at dance class! Oh, well, we'll get it sorted out.

But on another note I'm going to be doing hair ALL day. I don't mind doing hair, most of the time. It's hard because I don't have all the convenient tools like wash bowls and chairs and all that but I make it work. It just helps to bring in a little extra money here and there. I was paid to do a family's hair (4 of them - cuts and color and style) back at Christmas which was nice but I prefer to be paid and do the job, not wait months and the do the job because by then the money is long gone and almost forgotten and it makes spending your whole day doing hair seems much more tedious and overwhelming! But I'll get through, the sooner this day is over the better!!!

I woke up feeling a little yucky so I'm letting myself have a break from my work out today - that still means I will work out 5 days this week which is what most people do anyway so I don't feel bad as long as I get at least 5 days in! Sometimes I just need to take a break - and I refuse to feel bad about it (well, I'm trying not to feel guilty! Haha!). So I'm going to eat some breakfast, pack up my gear, my child and her gear, load the car, run a couple of errands and then head over to do lots of hair.....if I come out alive I'll blog about it all tomorrow! Lol!!!