Zeeyau’s dance class in action! That girl in black and white leggings is Zeeyau. The second picture shows the girls doing their 民族舞，learning a peakcock dance routine.

Class started at 9.30am sharp, but most of the girls arrived like 10 minutes earlier. Time wasn’t wasted loitering around if you arrived early, but used to practice some stretching exercise. All the girls automatically headed towards the mirrored walls and did the “wall hugging” exercise. The more senior girls didn’t need help from the teachers anymore. Newer students like Zeeyau were constantly reminded by the teachers to straightened their backs and moved their butts towards the wall.

I saw fewer girls compared to the first time we attended the session. I guess there were quite a few girls on trial class that day. I remembered a mother with a girl about the age of 3 or 4 years old. She spent a huge effort coercing the girl to join the class. The girl wasn’t quite cooperative with the mother and refused to join until the mother agreed to stay by her side.  If she realised the mother had moved further away from her, she will ran back to join the mother. She ended up crying from time to time.

After about an hour, the mother finally gave up and removed her from the class. I was at the door during her departure and her final words still rings in my ear “ 人家女孩儿都喜欢跳舞， 就不明白为什么你不喜欢。” Somehow I felt she was very disappointed that her girl wasn’t able to fufill her expectation. I admit I have grand dreams with my kids, but I hope this serves as a good reminder to me not to push the kids to do or learn things so as to fulfill my expectation against their wish. Sometimes, they just aren’t ready yet.

(well, easier said then done. I still have lots of great expectations…lol)