As many of you already know, Jax is a dancer. He has always been a dancer, even as a baby. We used to dance all the time, and whenever he stayed with his Gramma and Papa, he danced with them, too. We honestly don’t remember a day when he isn’t dancing. He took to all the TikTok dance challenges quite easily, and he was on TikTok so much that we are now banned because I think they figured out a minor was using the account.
Anyway, it was no surprise when two years ago, his Elementary School teacher Russ suggested to me during a parent-teacher review conference: “You’ve got to get that boy to dance classes.” Ry and I had already discussed this but it was wonderful to get a third-party confirmation from his teacher. Apparently, Jax was dancing all the time in class.
Since I am a proud tiger mom, I researched and found a fantastic dance school – but all the way in the Western Algarve (Luz), a 45-minute drive from our house. Sobre Artes was highly recommended by a British dance organization which regularly did competitions, so I sucked up the driving and Jax had a fantastic introduction to proper dance instruction. Although he had originally only wanted to do modern dance, the director insisted Jax take ballet as it is the base of all dance. At the end of the year, Jax passed his Modern Rosette exam and for his Ballet exam, he received a Distinction with 85 marks. We are so indebted to Vanessa and Nicola at Sobre Artes for their guidance and instruction.
In October last year, we moved to a new town and thus I could no longer do the drive to Luz without it taking up too much of my day. Instead of a 45-minute drive, it was now a 75-minute drive back and forth. So, I found an amazing dance school in Faro: Camada Centro Coreografico. It has been such a fantastic dance school transition as Jax’s dance instructors are really incredible dancers and artists! I am so happy with Jax’s dance progress. He has 3 performances scheduled for this year, and I am excited to see them. In the meantime, here are 3 videos from Camada’s parent open house this last December.
Enjoy!
No Ugly Duckling 