Acrobatics

About a year ago, I would take Taylor with me to Riley's hip hop dance class so that we could have a girls lunch or girl time after class. There was an acrobatics class going on at the same time as Riley's class, so Taylor started to notice the girls in there doing handsprings and back flips. Instantly, she was amazed at their talent and wanted to join. She started in March of last year and began learning how to make bridges, which is laying on your back and then pushing your body up on your hands and feet, and how to do cartwheels. It was slow going, but eventually, her cartwheels improved and she's even learning one handed cartwheels. She still needs to work on her bridges, though.

Luckily for Taylor, she has a gymnast body. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, since every time I think of gymnasts, they are pretty short. But she has great flexibility and can move fast. Tampa seems to have a acrobatics type gym on every street corner. Well, it seems that way, at least. There are some amazing gymnasiums here in our area, some of which start three year olds on the balance beam. I'm pretty sure there have been some Olympic hopefuls from this area, although I'm not a mom pushing her kid to be on stage. The entire reason Taylor chose acrobatics is so that she will NOT have to be on stage. Unlike her sister, Riley, Taylor has no desire to ever want anyone watching her perform.

We like Jansen Dance Project because it isn't as strict as many of the other gymnasiums in the area. Class is once a week for acro students and they are allowed to work at their own pace. Children aren't pushed beyond their limits, and made to practice hours upon hours every day. One of the girls in Taylor's class came from a gym that had her practicing up to five days per week at their gym. Oh, she is definitely talented and can jump hoops, or back springs around the other students. But she was burned out by the constant work and the poor girl is only eight. I don't want that for Taylor.

Taylor is strictly doing tumbling, not the balance beam, uneven bars, or vault. If she decides that she really does want to pursue that, then we'll switch her up to one of those classes. For now she likes what she is doing and I'm happy she has found something she enjoys. I thought I had photos of her, but they were from last year, so here she is on her way to class with her slicked back ponytail hair.