PHILIPPA Raw said her daughter Chelsea has a different way of getting around these days.
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She dances.
“Now she doesn’t walk, I’ve asked poor Rolande to teach her how to walk,” Philippa laughed.
Chelsea received the Sapphire City Dance Studio 2015 annual scholarship from studio principal Rolande Hooklyn, and the gift seems well deserved.
The ten-year-old’s eyes shone when she talked about ballet.
“When I was little all I wanted to do is ballet,” she said.
“All the moves and how it’s so nice and peaceful and you don’t have to do all fast stuff and complicated stuff.”
Chelsea began formal dance instruction with Rolande’s daughter Tiffany Hooklyn in the Kool Kids Dance House.
“Tiffany spotted the potential in Chelsea and suggested she does extra classes with me as well; classical ballet.”
The tuition and Chelsea’s dedication led to the $300 scholarship, applicable to the studio or study elsewhere.
“Children learn so much from different teachers,” Rolande said.
“So if she wants an opportunity to dance with another teacher during a dance school somewhere, then I strongly suggest she does that.”
Philippa watched Chelsea rehearse routines for the studio’s coming Christmas production of Frozen, to be staged on December 13.
She said her home has become a series of impromptu dance studios.
“We have different music in every room,” Philippa said.
“She used to dance a lot but she’s never started until she started with Tif, and then, she’s just blossomed.”
Chelsea has several roles in the production, and the challenge meets her own young goals for dancing just now.
“To just remember all the dances, and do my best,” she said, and smiled.