Thoughts on Three Rivers: Dance as if no one were watching
This article was published September 2, 2010 at 3:14 a.m.
THREE RIVERS AREA — It had been a long Friday, and I was looking forward to a quiet dinner at home. Instead, I had been invited to accompany my daughter to my granddaughter’s first dance class.
Who takes a child to dance class on a Friday night?
And who is brave enough to teach a group of 2-year-old girls?
Furthermore, who would drive 45 minutes, each way, for a 30-minute dance class?
Well, I found out.
We arrived at KC Dance Dynamics in Cave City, and I watched the group of little girls line up with their mommies. Over the years, I have waited through many dance classes for each of my daughters, but I’ve never had the privilege of watching a 2-year-old class.
The girls were so small that their leotards sagged, and their tights had to be pulled tight at the toes before their moms slipped their dance shoes onto their tiny feet.
Their teacher, Ms. Crystal, patiently stood in front of them, smiling, as some of the girls mimicked her actions, and a few ran around the room chasing red balloons in classic 2-year-old form.
Crystal recently moved to Cave City from Texas, where she had studied dance, theater and voice. I was very impressed that she had studied under wellknown names such as Patsy Swayze, Paula Abdul, Charles McGowan and Fred Kelly.
As a professional dancer, Crystal has performed in many musical productions, including Slide in New York City. I was also impressed that she has won awards for her choreography. She choreographed for Clementella, Saturday Night Live and The Sound of Music. Not to mention that she has been teaching for 15 years.
I’m always thrilled to find such talented people who live in the small towns in the Three Rivers area.
Crystal is a third-generation dancer. Her grandmother and mother are dancers. Crystal’s 2-year-old daughter has already begun her dance career as well.
Knowing Crystal’s background and seeing her patience with the little ones helped me to understand why someone would drive 45 minutes each way on a Friday night to take her 2-year-old daughter to dance class.
Jeanni Brosius is a longtime journalist who is the writer for the Three Rivers Edition, where her column appears each Thursday. E-mail her at jbrosius@arkansasonline.com with questions, comments and suggestions.
Three Rivers, Pages 51 on 09/02/2010
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