Floor Barre, Straddles and Fairy-Tales; A Typical Dance Class

Hello everyone! It's Melodie, finally able to blog. I have been so busy with school and other activities that I have left the blogging responsibilities to Morgan. Now, I have some time to post, so I decided I would do one. As you can tell by the title, I chose to blog about dance class. I have shown one of our performances here on the blog, and I have mentioned taking class, but I have never actually shown it. So, here is a look into our dance class.

It was a usual Friday at our house, which meant that Ella had gymnastics, and Morgan and I had ballet class. Ariana usually goes with Mom to Ella's practice, and Lexi usually is at track with a friend. Today Mom came to take pictures for the blog, while Ariana had a playdate at a frends' house. Ella had ridden with her friends, so it was just us and Mom. Morgan and I went into the studio and started to stretch. We were the only ones in the room, and it was pretty quiet.

Then Briana got there. She put on her ballet shoes while we kept stretching. After she was done, Briana joined us in stretching, Sam soon came in to join us. She had borrowed a pair of my ballet shoes on Wednesday, so she brought them for me to use. As Sam began stretching, Charlotte and Hazel arrived. We all stretched until it was time to start class. Here are the photos. Sorry for the odd arrangement.

This week, our teacher said we would be doing floor barre. In a regular ballet class, we have barre at the barre, a long metal/wood pole that can either be free-standing or attached to the wall. Floor barre is different. It is regularly called "barre" at gyms, and it is just executing the steps/stretches that we usually do at barre while lying on the floor.

We did floor barre. Mom took some good photos from some different angles. My teacher directed us, and barre passed quickly.

After barre, we paired off and stretched. We did our straddle splits against the wall. One partner would lie down with their bottom against the wall, and the other partner would press their legs down to stretch them farther. It hurts, but it's good for us. We get into the best straddle possible. I was partners with Briana, Morgan and Hazel were together, and Sam and Charlotte worked together.
Sam had been working really hard on her straddle, and Charlotte just looked when Sam got into hers. Then, we straddled on the floor. Not as exciting, but definitely picture-worthy.

After we finished stretching, our teacher assigned partners for duets. We are going to have a Spring Recital at the end of the year, and my teacher wanted us to start working on dance concepts. The theme of the Spring Recital is "Fairy-Tale", and that gives a lot of room for imagination. Briana and I are partners, and we had a few ideas, but nothing is final yet. Charlotte and Hazel are also in the process of thinking, but they both want to do something related to animals. Morgan and Sam want to do a twisted fairy-tale, but they can't decide which one. After we discussed for a bit, we tried working on a few steps we could use. We are allowed to have our dance in any style we want, Briana and I think we want to do a ballet/lyrical dance. Charlotte and Hazel are thinking more contemporary, with acro steps. Sam and Morgan think contemporary or modern would be fun, but they are waiting until they decide on a theme before choosing their dance style.

Like always, class went by way to quickly. Before we left, Mom had us get a photo together. It is at the top of the post, in case you missed it.

I love dance, and I always enjoy class. I'm even more excited to be in a duet with my cousin Briana. Do you have any ideas for fairy-tale dances?

Do you enjoy dancing, and what do you think of the ideas for our Spring Recital?

~Melodie

A Fun Concert Together: told by Samantha and Riley

Hello everyone. It's Morgan. Sorry we haven't posted in so long, but we've been busy with school, our local science fair, and just life. We also have been planning a big surprise, which you will hear about later on.

So, last week on Wednesday (Feb. 10) Samantha and Riley went to a concert. They had a lot of fun together, and asked if they could share it with you. Riley will be posting in purple and Sam will be posting in blue.

Hello! I am so excited to share the story of last Wednesday's concert. Sam and I had so much fun.

I agree. So, my mom had told me about the concert a week before. It was called the Rock and Worship Roadshow concert, and some of my favorite bands and artists were going to play. I asked my mom if we could go, but sadly, she had to work. I was pretty disappointed, but I understood.

Sam had sent all of us a link to the concert, and I thought it sounded fun. Phil Wickham was going to be there, and the Newsboys! I showed my parents, and they thought it was a great idea, too. They decided to take me, and of course I was overjoyed. They also asked if any of my friends wanted to go. I texted around, and nobody was available, but Sam.

So, I went to the concert with Riley's family. I was thrilled to go, even if it meant standing for an hour in freezing weather.It finally feels like winter, compared to the nice weather we had around Christmas. Riley and I talked the whole time we were waiting in the cold, and it didn't feel that long. When we finally got in, the whole place was packed. It was really loud, so Riley's dad bought us some ear plugs. We got really good seats near the stage but not right next to it.


The concert was amazing. I really enjoyed all of the artists and their songs. Rock and Worship Roadshow encouraged taking pictures and videos, so we did. Here are a few photos from the evening of some of the artists/bands.

 Here is Mandisa. You can see her on the screen better than on stage, because we weren't right up against the stage.

 Here's Phil Wickham. He is so awesome. I love all of his music. He had a concert here over a year ago, but I didn't see it because I was still living overseas.
















Sadly, we really didn't get any good pictures of the other artists. But I can still remember who was there. Jeremy Camp was there right after the intermission. The Family Force Five was there, and they were so cool.

Audio Adrenaline played, although I only knew one of their songs. Citizen Way and Danny Gokey hosted the pre-show party, which meant they played some of their songs, like the other artists. 

And then of course the Newsboys! They are so cool. I have heard their songs on the radio off and on, and I loved all of the songs they played. Plus, we got to see some clips from the movie "God's Not Dead 2" which comes out later this year. I can't wait to go see it.

So that was our night. Sam and I had so much fun singing with the different bands and getting to spend time together. It was a great night.

Who is your favorite artist/band?

~Samantha and Riley