Song and dance

This was a crazy March holidays for Lesley-Anne, if you could call it a holiday at all. As luck would have it, Lesley-Anne's ballet exam fell on a Thursday, the day right after her Grade 8 piano exam. A couple of years ago, she'd faced the same situation and I'd written about the stress of it all. Funny how we never seem to learn from our past!

As if that's not challenging enough, Lesley-Anne had to be at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) for the entire week just before the exams. This was unplanned for and I was apprehensive just thinking about all the injuries she might come home with. To be honest though, it was less about the hurt and more about having to miss the exams. "Don't you dare sprain your ankles, wrists or fingers!" I warned. Yeah, me the warm and fuzzy mum.

She had a whale of a time at OBS, which surprised me as she is as un-outdoorsy as they come. Even though she had to kayak for 7 hours straight and trek for 6 hours carrying a 15kg backpack, she really enjoyed herself. I guess being independent in the outdoors, having to look after yourself without the comfort of home, does something to boost your self-confidence. I think it's a fantastic experience.

Thankfully too, she came back unscathed, except for some mosquito bites and scabs, so the ballet exam could proceed as scheduled.

Lesley-Anne took her Grade 6 ballet exam this year. The usual preparations:

Doing up the hair in a stiff, immobilised bun.

Polishing her shoes.

This is Lesley-Anne's exam group, comprising four girls. In higher grades, you wear a chiffon skirt over your leotard (except for barre exercises).

These are the Polish character skirts.

Finally, the nail-biting wait outside the exam room. You would have thought the girls would be used to this, having been through many previous exams, but nooo.... they were pretty jittery.

Last minute instructions from the teacher.

According to Lesley-Anne, the exam didn't quite go quite as impeccably as they'd hoped. She described it as a comedy of errors with each girl taking turns to make mistakes, prompting mistakes by the other three.

But it's over! Finally, she could enjoy what's left of the holidays, and what better way to celebrate than with a tall, cold glass of Milo.

I think my daughter is growing up to be a gorgeous girl :)