This is Lauren's second year of dance. At age three, she was in "Tumbling Tots," which was mostly pencil rolls, forward rolls, crab walks and the like. Cute as heck at the recital though. This year, at the ripe age of four, she's moved on to "Pre-Ballet." And this year, she's actually learning real dance elements!

Chasse: (sha-SAY) Chased. A step in which one foot literally chases the other foot out of its position; done in a series.

Fondu, fondue (fawn-DEW) Sinking down. a term used to describe a lowering of the body made by bending the knee of the supporting leg.

Plie: (plee-AY) Bent, bending. A bending of the knee or knees. (etc., etc. not going to type it all out)

Saute, Sautee (Soh-TAY) Jumped, jumping. When this term is added to the name of a step, the movement is performed while jumping.

Echappe (ay-sha-PAY) Escaping or slipping movement. An echappe is a level opening of both feet from a closed position. Echappe saute is what Lauren's class does...this is done with a spring from the 5th position and finishes in a demi-plie in the open position. (whatever - when 4-yr-olds do this, it looks like a jumping jack except arms are open to the side instead of over the head)

I'm sure there are other moves, for instance I know they've learned at least 1st and 2nd positions...and I'm sure there is a french term for the pointing of the toe in front of the body in a point, point, point fashion? There seems to be a lot of that going on.

Anyway - it's cute as a cute can be! Her dance number is called "Pinkalicious" - and it is! =-)

Last night we brought her costume home. (Pictures in a future post). She was so excited about it and started talking about the recital on the drive home. The conversations went something like this:

Lauren: I love my pinkalicious costume!

Me: I know! It's so beautiful!

Lauren: I'm going to wear it at the recital! I'm going to wear my leg warmers!

Me: I don't think you can wear your leg warmers for the recital.

Lauren: Why?

Me: Because you have to wear special tights

Lauren: What kind of special tights?

Me: I'm not sure yet - I don't think they've told us....we'll have to ask

Lauren: You need to go to dance class dot com and look up it

Me: (laugh out loud!!!)