Kindness in the Little People World

So this week I am teaching Ballet/Jazz Technique classes to both Grades 3-6 and Grades 7-10 in DC for ISI. I was already teaching the afternoon class with the older students, but Veronika called me last week to offer me the morning class as well because the teacher had to cancel last minute. I was hesitant at first for two reasons - one being the early morning commute to DC for a 9am class - the other being the fact that it was 6 hours of dance and I would have the little guys. Even though it was six hours and rush hour both ways, it was a matter of teaching the same class essentially and making twice as much money because I was already going to be down there. So I decided to take it on...

It was funny because when I was there the first week, I saw how hyper the little people were and I was glad at the time I wasn't teaching them. I know that these guys are not so little to other people. My sister actually considers them "big guys" on her scale. I just knew I had been working with high school students for the last 6 months so it was going to definitely be a readjustment.

My first surprise was that I had a boy in my class. It's not that boys shouldn't be in Ballet class, because clearly I support it, but a this age you don't expect it so much in a summer camp. So I had carefully planned out variations from the ballet SLEEPING BEAUTY to work on, thinking the kids could all be different fairies and create characters My ideas changed completely upon meeting little Howie** as I will call him. On the first day he ended up stepping on his own foot and ended up sitting out most of the ballet portion of the class. It wasn't until Tuesday that he started complaining about not liking ballet and it being too girly. It's funny because the boy claims to not like sports, and wants to be an actor in musical theatre when he grows up. He will need to change his tune real fast if that is what he wants to be.

So this was a primary case of why I generally avoid kids in grades 1-5. I find it is much harder to rationalize with kids that are that young. They generally just get whiney and difficult, which is why I tend to like dealing with the big kids. (But of course I know some people would tend to disagree and believe the opposite).

Nevertheless, once in awhile you get that one child (or a couple) that make teaching that age group worthwhile. In this case, the golden child was named Emily**. Emily was definitely the child you want in every class, granted she was one of the oldest and going into 6th grade. I told Kevin that someday when we do decide to procreate, I want a child to have her qualities.

She was always focused in every class and never wanted to take any breaks, being super eager to learn more. She always wanted to make sure she was doing things right and asked lots of intelligent questions. Emily was always optimistic and smiley, never complaining and getting along with all of the other children. (She was also just innately talented and apparently loves to dance and act.)

However, this wasn't even my favorite Emily moment for the week. There was another camp going on at the school run by other people. About 15 minutes before the end of our class a little boy who appeared to be a little confused came and stood at the doorway. Apparently, they let their children run around alone in the other camp because he was all by himself looking for the dance class that was coming in next. When he told me he was switching to dance, I said "You must be looking for the next dance class. They will be here soon."

We went on to play our freeze dance game at the end of class and during the first freeze Emily asked me if she could "unfreeze" for a moment. She came up to me and said, "That boy out there looks lonely. Can I ask him to come in and play with us?" I said "Of course!" and she proceeded to go out in the hallyway and ask him to come in and play, which he did. And that was the moment she became a little angel in my eyes, proving that little people really can still be kind towards others they don't even know.

**Names have been changed to protect the innocent - and just because I am a teacher