Peabody Dance Performances: 3rd and 5th Grade

The end of fifth and third grade were approaching for Samantha and Thatcher which meant they got to show off the dance moves they learned all year. 

Despite both kids trying their hardest not to smile, especially Thatcher, I know they love it! 😍😊 

Third grade boys love dancing in front of an audience. 🤣

Second and Fourth Grade Dance Performances

All students attend a weekly dance class taught by Steven Lovelace from SB Dance Arts at Peabody and at the end of the year the parents are invited to check out what they've learned. 

Second graders. 

Mr. Lovelace is a gem! 

Fourth graders. 

2nd and 4th Grade Dance Performances from ronda fallon on Vimeo.

Samantha has really started to enjoy dancing which makes me so happy! And Thatcher's beaming smile (and his "try not to smile" smile) in EVERY single dance routine makes me want to play this video over and over. 🕺

3rd and 1st Grade Dance Performance

One of the things I love about Peabody is all the extra programs the kids have. Besides Drama, Ceramics, Extra-P.E., Music, Art and Technology, all kids attend Dance class each week which is taught by Santa Barbara Dance Arts instructor Steven Lovelace. 

Towards the end of the school year, parents are invited to see some of the routines they learned. 

Video: Thatcher Dancing

I mean, look at this kid. I can tell you that he absolutely LOVES it even though he has a bit of a shy half-dance going on at times he is trying the entire time not to smile. Dance is actually one of his favorite things at school and we often get dance performances at home with him showing us the latest dance he is learning. 

Samantha made sure to wear her gold pants on performance day!

Video: Samantha Dancing

My "I only play sports" daughter has turned over a new leaf this past year and loves to dance! She's ready to get back into some form of dance lessons (working on how to fit that in with all the sports, duh) so for now, it's dance at Peabody. Mr. Lovelace singles Sam out all the time to compliment her on her moves. She's starting to get a bit of rhythm. Proud cheer mom over here. ;)

Flamenco Practice (a lot of it!)

Well, we did it again, we made it through another Fiesta with a flamenco dancer! This was our third time and I'll say our most exhausting. Classes start back up for the next season in a couple weeks and we have a house divided on what we plan to do. A certain 7-year-old has forgotten how exhausting it was to perform more than 30 times in two weeks and a certain 30-something year-old has not ;)

At the end of June, Linda Vega dancers are on lock-down in Santa Barbara and have a pretty intense practice schedule. 

The above is a snippet of their routine which wasn't quite where it should be yet. Samantha wasn't sure of all the moves but has an excellent smile which she knows is important to have so people focus less on everything else ;) 

I'm not surprised by Thatcher's dance moves. Señor Thatcher, I mean. He has since started kindergarten and guess what his favorite subject is so far at school? DANCE! The dance teacher put on "Gangnam Style" the first day for the kids to dance to and that sold Thatcher for the rest of the year.



So, if you aren't quite polished enough in the dance OR you miss a lesson during the lock-down period, you will be asked to do some private lessons. We were guilty of both ;) Oh and you'll notice, her hair grew, slowly they begin to turn you into a flamenco dancer via hair, makeup and a costume.

Sam came out of her room one night with this get-up on. It's last year's hair piece and some of the accessories. It's looking more 90's prom to me ;) 

These girls log a lot of hours at the studio.....

The dance begins to transform and costumes begin to arrive for fittings.

These two!

Now both in second grade, Samantha and Fallon have been dancing together since they were toddlers in ballet!

1st year together in flamenco.

So, basically you end up exhausted from flamenco before the real performances even start....BUT, we keep coming back for more because it DOES end up being fun and Samantha enjoys it ;)

Spring 1st Grade Dance Performance

I don't really know how to describe the dance performances that the kids put on each quarter at Peabody. They are interesting. I'll focus on the part that the kids have a lot of fun and leave it at that. 

The dance party afterward is always fun to watch! 

Last dance performance as 1st graders!

Father/Daughter Dance

Samantha and Todd went to their first Father/Daughter dance at Peabody. 

Samantha's hair is FINALLY getting long. We took a long time getting ready. Washing and blowing drying her hair. 

Hot rollers!

A fancy new dress we went shopping for together, a little lip gloss and some shimmer on her eye lids and she was ready for her date!

But first, her date had to "erase" the scuff marks off her cowboy boots with a brown sharpie. 

Boots good as new and ready for a zillion photos! 

Someone was feeling VERY left out. 

Don't feel bad for the left out kid as he got to go on a sushi date with me ;)

While we were doing this, they were….

Can you guess which song this was? 

Again, Thatcher was doing just fine. His wish for his upcoming birthday was new tennis shoes ( I love when my kids ask for practical gifts) so we headed downtown to find the perfect pair. 

See, happy camper!

Now back to the dance, where we have tons of tons of keepsake photos.

Char and Sam

I found this photo to be a little Modern Family-ish ;) 

Sam, Lolo and Char

Sage, Sam and I am not sure who the other girl is ;)

1st grade girls!

Samantha's top highlights from then night: requesting "Fireball" from the DJ, the "Chicken Dance" and dancing with Daddy to "My Girl" at the end of the night.

And I'll leave you with a little Chicken Dance: