Esme ulland-joy, 9

I have been in ballet since as long as I can remember. I remember when I was in preschool that on Tuesday afternoons, I had to change into my ballet leotard before I left and then I would go straight to ballet. I still enjoy it and want to keep dancing forever. I go to ballet at Marquette Center for Dance. This year I am in ballet 2; although it is called ballet 2, it isn’t my second year in ballet. Starting in ballet 1, you learn a whole lot more stuff.

This year our recital is called, “The Rose.” It is about a queen who is trying to decide which one of her daughters will be her heir. The three princesses each set out to find the queen the best present: One gives the queen emeralds; one gives the queen some sapphires; and the last princess gives her a rose, but I won’t spoil the end (mainly because I don’t know the end). I am dancing as a flower, waterfall and emerald. We are best at the emerald dance because we have been doing it for longer. It was the first dance for the recital we started rehearsing. We are also pretty good at the waterfall dance except sometimes we all finish doing different moves at different times. The flower dance is our newest one. I am in the back row in that dance … or you could call it the “tall person row.”

In the flower dance at the end we have to do a bunch of fast jumps that are really rushed. I earned my nickname, “race car driver,” in ballet because when I finish a move at the end, I hurry to do the next move and look all rushed and flustered. It was funny seeing my fellow dancers trying to imitate me being rushed.

In my class there are seven dancers: There is Henrik who is really nice; Reya is also nice and sometimes talks during ballet; Emily is really nice and very concentrated; Ella is funny and almost in the splits (you can do it Ella!); Halley is really funny and so is Beatrix. Next is me: I sometimes talk during bar exercises, but talk a lot more in center. I am pretty funny, but sometimes serious.

I also started a dance team with my friends. We are called ” The Swans.” Our last recital was Moana. It went great. Last year I was in the Nutcracker. I danced as snow, Spanish and Party Guest B. I liked all of them for different reasons. I liked dancing as “snow,” because we move around a lot and the dance was really long. It was a plus that we got to wear a long white dress that was really pretty. I liked dancing as “Spanish” because we got to wear pretty skirts and most of the dance was just moving your arms. Finally, I liked dancing as a party guest because I got to have a partner for part of the dance.

Editor’s note: Esme Ulland-Joy, is 9 and is in the fourth grade at Sandy Knoll Elementary School. Esme loves to dance and read.