Growing up my parents encouraged us to choose one extracurricular activity each season/year. Dance eventually became my main focus, but looking back I actually did a lot: gymnastics, swimming, piano, flute, soccer, just to name a few.
In elementary school I took swimming lessons every year. I zoomed through the lower levels, but had to retake the upper levels twice before moving on. I thought it would be fun to do the swim team in middle school and high school, but my level seven teacher said that I didn't have enough endurance. I did gymnastics in 1st and 2nd grade. It wasn't at a real gym. It was through the Parks and Rec department, but it was good enough for me as a beginner. I did three seasons of gymnastics before switching to soccer in 3rd and 4th grade. I also did soccer through the Parks and Rec department. The teams were determined by which elementary school we went to. The organizers didn't keep score, but the players and parents sure did!
I was in my elementary school choir 4th-6th grade. It was a sign up choir, no try outs. We sang a lot of fun songs, and got to sing at the airport to arriving athletes for the 2002 Winter Olympics! I took piano lessons from 6th-9th grade. I know that's pretty late compared to most people, but we didn't own a piano until then; and it's not a true, full scale piano, it's a keyboard. In 7th grade I played the flute and French horn in intermediate band. My middle school had beginning band, intermediate band, and advanced band. Intermediate band was for those who took at least one semester of beginning band or took summer school band the summer before. I took summer school band and got to do intermediate band for both semesters of 7th grade. I didn't continue music after 7th grade because I chose to focus on dance from 8th grade onward. I also made it into the school play in 8th grade. We did Alice in Wonderland. I was cast as the White Queen. It was my one and only play and it was really fun.
I took various styles of dance classes throughout my life. In 1st grade I took jazz and ballet. In 4th grade I took tap and jazz. In 5th grade I started my ballroom training. I took classes 5th-7th grade, made my school's performance team in 8th grade, JV I'm 9th grade, and Varsity 10th-12th grade. In high school I also took private lessons for competition. I also took hip hop in 7th and 8th grade, and modern dance in 12th grade. Basically from 5th grade on dance defined my extra curricular activities.
Because I was given the opportunity to try so many different things, I want to give that same opportunity to Benjamin and Luna. I want to let them choose, and I don't want to pressure them to stick with one thing too early.
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