I began my training in ballet when I was 2 and a half years old... which all started with little me running around in a circle waving a scarf in the air and trying to stand on my tip toes... I danced in my first show when I was 3 years old, and completely fell in love!
Like most young girls I loved ballet in every way; loved watching it, dancing it, dreaming it...
But at the age of 17, after years of exams and shows and competitions, I traded my ballet shoes for books and dropped out of dance school to focus on my academic education.
I miss dancing all the time.
Whenever I see a ballet or make a late night dash to the dance studio for some contemporary therapy and 'introvert time' by myself, my mind spirals off into a little daydream of how different my life would be if I'd have chosen the alternative path in those big life decisions...
Three A Levels and a degree later, and I finally got to exercise my passion for ballet and teach this little one her first ballet lesson...
My Godparent's eldest daughter Naomi was so excited about the tiny little ballet shoes I'd bought her, along with a cute Cath Kids' bag for her to keep them in.
For me she'd drawn a picture of the two of us in ballet dresses, going out to a tea-date at Lee Rosy's, our favourite Nottingham tea house. She'd even wrapped it up in special yellow paper.
We banished her three siblings and the 'grown-ups' to the sitting room, and together we did battement tendus, pliés, sautés, port de bras... To her it was 'skipping', 'jumping', 'pointing', 'the flower picking dance'... All of which she insisted on teaching her older brother when we'd finished!
Teaching Naomi was so rich an experience.
I don't know why I didn't start sooner!
She had so much fun and absorbed what I'd taught her like a sponge!
I rewarded her with a tea-date in Lee Rosy's - naturally.
As Naomi took her first step into ballet, I took my first step into teaching.
les premières étapes... que Dieu utilise les