Longest post....EVER

BALLET CLASS

Roan had her first ballet class on Saturday. We went to the place not knowing if she was actually going to take the class or just watch and see how it was. We also went to the place not knowing where the hell it was at.

The place we went to was Broadway Academy (name makes me laugh). We called the place Amelie mentioned in the comments, but they never called back. So Saturday morning we trucked out to Broadway Academy. It’s one thing when a business moves to not be able to update the yellow pages, not possible, of course. But if you’re going to bother to have a web site, and you move your business you really should spend the 10 minutes or so it would take to update the site. Sheesh. This wouldn’t have been an issue if Davey had got the correct address when he talked to them on the phone, but that didn’t happen either. Luckily we had their phone number and were able to find the place. It actually wasn’t that easy even if you have the correct address. It’s on Fulton near Marconi in this big two story mall/office type building. The hadn’t even replaced the sign from the old dance studio that used to be there.

So we get Roan in the class. There are four other little kids there. One is very little, like maybe two years old (and she was probably one of the best “dancers” in the class). There was one who was a little older and the other two looked just about Roan’s age. I got to sit in the room with one other mom (this was her daughter’s second class) the other parents waited outside.

Class started with the kids practicing their ballet positions (like first position etc.). Roan just stood there. There was a dance teacher and an assistant (teenager) teaching the class. The assistant kept having to move Roan’s feet by hand. I kept thinking, “great, we’ll be paying $10/class for her to just stand there.”

Luckily, they started to practice stuff like “princess walk,” “soldier march,” and “soldier kicks,” by taking turns and having each one go across the floor and back with the teacher. Roan finally started doing something.

Then it was time to change shoes for the tap half of the class. Roan was wearing sweats and tennis shoes, all the other kids had little ballet outfits on with ballet slippers and when they put their tap shoes on, Roan says “I want tap shoes too.” Which further confirms my theory that it’s all about the shoes.

Tap shoes on little kids are pretty funny. They’re really slippery. I also didn’t realize how hard it is for kids to walk “toe-heel” or “heel-toe” across the floor. This really screws them up. It was hard to keep from laughing when I was watching them.

The teacher and the teenage assistant were both really good with the kids. Lot’s of patience, but they also made them sit against the wall and not talk when it wasn’t their turn. “Criss-cross applesauce” means sit against the wall, legs crossed and don’t talk. Which, not only does it teach the little monsters manners, I’m sure it keeps them from running around like maniacs.

Roan said she liked the class and wanted to do it again, so she will. Unfortunately this means I can no longer sleep in on Saturdays. Also it meant that I had to get her dance shoes and outfit. I asked the lady at the front desk where to get cheap shoes and she mentioned Payless. I never knew they had dance shoes.

HARRY POTTER IS RIPPED

(I couldn't find a picture of Harry with his shirt off and felt very dirty searching for one...)



Saturday afternoon I decided to go see the new Harry Potter movie and look for Roan’s ballet and tap shoes at the downtown Payless. Luckily they were having a “buy one get one half off anything in the store” sale (aren’t they always having that sale?) They had Roan’s shoes, so I got off relatively cheaply.

After the shoe purchase I went to the movie. “Goblet of Fire” might be my favorite Potter book. It’s also the book that sort of crosses a line and turns a dark corner. The movie is dark and action packed. They had to whittle out lots of details in order to fit the story in a 2.5 hour movie. I thought they did a really good job. It’s actually pretty “scary.” Roan’s actually seen the first two Potter movies when they’ve been on TV. I wouldn’t let her anywhere near this one. I was sort of sad to see little kids in the theater. Davey went the next day and said there were a bunch of kids Roan’s age there. If you’ve read the book, you’d know it’s not for young kids and the movie is rated PG-13, which should tell you something. But I shouldn’t expect anything less, since people always bring their young kids to inappropriate movies. I should say, my mom was somewhat guilty of this, but I was at least 10 or 11 when she would take me to R-rated stuff and for me being freaked out by the rotting corpse guy in American Werewolf in London, was better than staying at home alone. (Damn, I just IMDB’d that movie and it came out in ‘81, so I was 9). Anyway, back to Potter. I know the abundance of cobwebs in some of the scenes alone would be enough to freak Roan out.

We also get to see “little” Daniel Radcliffe taking a bath. I dare say he’s not so little anymore and has been spending a lot of time at the gym. I don’t know how I feel about seeing Harry Potter half naked. Disturbed? I think that’s it. I guess it shows little Harry is growing up.

I though Victor Krum was miscast. He looks like he’s at least 25 and seemed way to beefy. I don’t remember exactly how he was described in the book, but in the movie he just came off as a cold fish and he’s supposed to be a big celebrity quidditch (did I spell that right, I’m guessing it won’t be in the spell check dictionary) champion.

I was psyched to see Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort. Kind of sick of him always being the villain (okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration) and he doesn’t look really hot with a snake face, but it’s pretty cool and he does make a good Voldemort.



I still want to see Jarhead. I finally finished the book. I’d like to see the Johnny Cash movie, though I will admit I want to see it more for J. Phoenix than for J. Cash (yeah yeah, sad I know). I’m sort of infatuated by Joaquin Phoenix. It’s not that he’s super great looking, but he’s one of those actors (like Ralph Fiennes) that I’d see pretty much anything he’s in, even if it looks crappy or has John Travolta in it.

P.S. “quidditch” did get a hit in the spell checker. The suggested spelling is “quid ditch”, should’ve seen that coming.