The amount of activities Ian is involved in this Fall has skyrocketed to proportions we have never experienced before. Ian has decided that he very much wants to try to make a go of acting professionally. While he is a very talented actor, he is just as untalented with dancing and singing. Ian took a few voice lessons last year and has vastly improved his singing, but his ability to handle any kind of dance number in a show is less than stellar.
Ian was up for taking a musical theatre class this year. Every 12 weeks, the teacher picks a number from a Broadway musical and the kids learn the dance and corresponding song. The style of dance will change with each new session. It's a really cool class and I love how they work on one singular song for the entire 12 weeks. Ian is currently working on "It's too darn hot" from Kiss Me Kate. After the first and second weeks, Ian gets in the car when I pick him up and tells me how he is the worst dancer in the whole class. Yes, I have to agree he must be. He hasn't had any dance instruction before and I've seen what he was capable of in other shows he's done. It's pretty entertaining, and not in a good way. I told Ian that I am sure all of these kids have taken other dance classes before. I told Ian he needs to work at this more than he is, if he is truly serious about wanting to make it. Heck, at this point, he needs to take some dance classes just to be able to audition and have a chance to even get a role in the high school musical. There are a lot of very talented kids in Ian's school.
Ian finally agrees that taking more dance classes is a necessity. We were able to register him for a Boys Ballet Class (all kids are 12+ in age) and a Broadway Tap 1 Class. With the addition of the Musical Theatre Class, Ian is taking 4.5 hours of dance a week. I adore this dance studio we found. It's close to the house and everything Ian is taken is filled with students who are there to improve their theatre skills. In a nice surprise, Ian knows almost everyone in each of his dance classes. Ian went from having no dance shoes to now owning a pair of Jazz, Tap and Ballet shoes. :)
Additionally, Ian is performing in two different plays this Fall. A dramatic play with his high school and a musical with the acting program he does thru George Mason University, AFYP.
Here is Ian's current schedule:
Monday:
rehearsal at school from 3 to 6pm
tap class from 7:30 to 8:30pm
Tuesday:
rehearsal at school from 3 to 6 pm
boys ballet from 7:30 to 9pm
Wednesday:
rehearsal at school from 3 to 6pm
Thursday:
every other week Ian stays at school for Improv
Friday:
rehearsal at school from 3 to 6pm
Saturday:
musical theatre from 8:30 to 10:30am
AFYP (acting for young people) from 1:30 to 5pm
Sunday:
religious school from 9 to 12pm
It is weird that the most I see Ian each week is in the car as I pick him up from one place or drive him to another. I think I could easily moonlight as an UBER driver at this rate. I am pretty much already acting like one, minus the paycheck.
It is so wonderful as a parent to see your child find something they are passionate about and want to work as hard as they can to excel. I absolutely love that Ian is a full-fledged theatre kid. He has found his people and they are such a great group of kids. They spend many hours together each week and it's comforting to know that Ian is with kids who are similarly minded and are a good influence on each other.
The icing on the cake is going to the theatre and knowing I have a built-in partner-in-crime to join me in seeing anything on the stage.
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