Letter to a Student

In my ballet classes, I pick a new story ballet for us to learn about each session.  In the first week of class, we read the story.  In the weeks that follow, we explore the story and the characters by dancing through the scenes of the ballet.  

Things you should know:

1.  This session we're learning about Firebird.

2.  In one class, I got a little carried away when reading the story of the Firebird, which frightened one of my students.  Yesterday I received an email from her mom saying she was "so scared of the story that she doesn't want to go to ballet anymore".  They've been talking about what to do if something scares you and my student came up with the idea to write to me and ask me if I would tell the story "more gently".   

Here is my response:

Dear ______,

I'm so sorry that my storytelling was so scary a few weeks ago in ballet class.  I was so excited to share Firebird with you that I forgot the parts about the evil characters might catch you by surprise.  

I love the story of the Firebird ballet because it has magic, a prince, lots of princesses, and of course a beautiful bird.  I also love it because even though all the princesses are trapped by a man who is so mean that the prince can't rescue them, the Firebird is so magical that she CAN rescue them.  And the way she rescues them is really funny!  While the mean characters are trying to get rid of the prince, the Firebird swoops in and makes them all do a silly dance until they are so tired, they can't be mean anymore!

A lot of stories have scary parts in them.  When that happens, and I feel scared, I look for the helpers - the good people who come to the rescue. 

The scary characters in Firebird are only a small part of the whole ballet.  I promise when we get to that part, I will tell the story gently and we can talk in class about why that part and those characters might be scary to us.  We won't be learning about part of the story for a few more weeks.  This week, we are pretending to be the princesses and doing a dance where they pick apples from the apple tree and toss them in the air and to each other.  They also do a dance move called "scissor kicks" that we'll practice going forwards AND backwards.  

I hope to see you in class tomorrow.  

Miss Jen

Student Update: I received this email back from my student's mom: "You rock!  You double-rock! Nay, triple-rock. Hope to see you later today."  My student did come to class and had a great time.  When it was time for us to learn about Firebird, one of the other students remembered that she was scared when we read the story and they held hands.  I love when it works out this way.