Hannah Kate decided a couple of years ago that she wanted to get pointe shoes. But you don't just "get" pointe shoes. Last year she took a pre-pointe class. One of the requirements for the class is that you take at least two ballet classes. So she added a ballet class. Miss Katherine told the girls the very first day that it would take awhile, a year or more maybe, before they would be ready for their shoes. She said she would let them know in January who was ready for shoes. Hannah Kate did not expect to be ready in January, but she began working really hard towards her goal. She even asked for a barre last Christmas so she could practice at home.
January came, and no one got pointe shoes. And then the studio had to close in March. They had to finish the year in virtual classes. She was so excited when the studio finally opened in August for classes. She began her TENTH YEAR of dance. (And, for the first time in 10 years, I totally forgot to take her picture on her first day of class. And her second. And her third.) She still wanted to work towards pointe shoes so she's taking two ballet classes and pointe again, along with jazz and lyrical. We're at the dance studio three nights every week, two of which are really late nights. I decided from the moment I found out what her schedule was going to be that I was NOT going to complain about those late nights, especially after what happened last spring. Because of the lost time, we expected it would be at least another six months before Hannah Kate might be ready for shoes.
We were so pleasantly shocked when Miss Katherine told Hannah Kate the first week of class that she needed to schedule an appointment to be fitted for pointe shoes! On August 30 her dream became a reality.
