The dance school Kevin attends had their Winter Recital last night; it was not holiday themed, but rather a simple chance for each of the students to present something to their families. Kevin was not expecting to perform in it, given teh short amount of time he's been taking lessons there, but he learned that every student was expected to do something, either in a group or solo.

Since he migrated from ballet to performance dance, he was caught in the middle; the students he joined had already planned out what they were doing, and the ballet students he'd been with could have included him, but it would have been obvious that he'd been an add on. He didn't want to perform solo, so three older students volunteered to dance with him, as long as he came up with a concept, the music, and a basic idea of how the choreography would go. Where he could not think of more advanced dance routines, they would help.

Kevin is a bt of a ham, and he had his TKD to fall back on; adding to his excitement was that these older students (two girls and a 13 year old boy) had been dancing from 4-6 years old and had real skills. He wanted to incorporate some of the jumping skills from TKD into the dance, and they would have no issues doing them.

Watching him perform last night only confirmed for us that he made the right decision to back off TKD and explore dance. He created a dance number that had costumes that looked like they were fron "Cats" and they performed to the Stray Cats "Stray Cat Strut." It was funny and colorful, and Kevin held his own with the older students; I honestly don't think anyone who didn't know him would guess that he's a raw beginner in this school.

Over Christmas break he and Alex and Rachel plan on spending a significant chunk of time training for their upcoming black belt tests, but after the test Kevin wants to take a break from it and concentrate on dance as well as drums, and he's expressed an interest in voice lessons.

How could I possibly say no? The kid has real talent and deserves to see how deep he wants to get into it. The TKD he did for me; he loves it and loved doing it, but in the beginning it was because I required it of my kids. It has to be his turn now.