Anika has been taking Street Dance lessons at STEPS Dance School.
Inaasar ako ni Alvin. The reason daw why I want Anika to take up dance lessons is because I’ve always wanted to go to one pero hindi ko daw nagawa nung bata ako.
Hehe. Slightly true. Pero slightly lang.
Anika loves performing. She loves to sing and dance. I asked her to choose what she wants to do between the two, sabi niya dance daw.
And so I googled dance classes in the metro.
The first two schools I went to was in BF Homes Paranaque. The first one was affordable pero yung waiting area naman is not airconditioned. Jabar levels ka talaga while waiting because 12 noon ang lessons. One hour yun. One hour ka din outside without airconditioning ng tanghaling tapat! The second one was more expensive. Nice yung waiting area kaso kamote yung nasa desk when I inquired. Parang ayaw niya magpa-enroll when I was inquiring so never mind.
While I was googling, STEPS Dance Studio kept on popping up so I checked it out. They have a school in Makati near Rockwell. I inquire over the phone. They encouraged me to have Anika attend a trial class muna a.k.a. auditions and their dance coach will assess her.
I liked them immediately. I like the thought that they want to see first if may future nga sa dancing ang bata. Baka naman wala or ayaw but they just go because their parents are forcing them. The trial dance class was Php 1,300. Fuzz ang mahal pero sige go.
We arrived at the school quite early kasi excited kaming mag-ina. There was a Mary Grace Cafe at the ground floor of the dance school building so I took it as a good sign. I didn’t tell Anika that she had to audition kasi baka kabahan. I just told her to have fun. The dance school was nice. It was a two floor building. Sa ground floor yung airconditioned lobby with lots of sofas where you can wait comfortably for your kids. They have a lot of dance studio rooms. Okay kako. Mukha din mahal pero mukha din super professional yung school.
Nervous na nervous ang bagets while we were waiting for the class to start. Baka daw hindi siya makasabay sa steps or baka mapahiya daw siya kasi lahat may alam na. She pleaded that I go with her upstairs. It wasn’t allowed normally but napakiusapan ko if I can watch. Parents can only watch from the outside of the studio. At first, Anika was super shy. And then everybody started saying hi to her, ayun Ms. Friendship na siya. There were around 20 kids and the studio was huge with large mirrors on all walls. Bigay todo ang Anika.
After an hour, the dance coach came up to me. This was his exact words.
DANCE COACH: Anika is really good! How old is she? She’s seven? Yeah. She’s really good! I mean she can really dance. Did she have dance lessons already before? No? Magaling siya. She can follow the steps. She just needs some refining in her moves but all in all, she’s really great!
I was soooooo proud!
And so we were in. The tuition is Php 4,200 for a one hour, once a week lesson for a month. No make up class unless you’re really sick and have this doctor’s certificate. Kaya masakit talaga sa bulsa if you skip class. There’s also a one time registration fee of Php 2000 for new students.
Butas nga talaga ang bulsa.
But then again, I asked Anika if she had fun, a big YES ang sagot. She loves daw the dance lessons. You can really see in her face that she loves it. Dun na nasulit yung six thousand na nilabas ko that day. She looks forward to her dance classes every week and I like that in her. Gusto ko passionate siya about something.
I like STEPS Dance Studio. They also have scholars from less privileged schools. Ang gagaling talaga nila. Some are Anika’s classmates and they really look cute dancing. Iba ang talent ng mga batang yun. Well deserved ang pagiging scholars nila. That is one more reason why I chose STEPS. They have a reputation of being a good school plus they take in scholars. Magaling.
So there. Anika’s also taking up gymnastics classes during the week. Once a week also. Gusto daw niya eh so I let her. Support lang ng support hanggang kaya. Wasakan na ang wallet pero at least I can see may napupuntahan the money that I work for. Anything for Anika’s education and enhancement of skills. Tipid na lang muna ako. I will not enter Starbucks muna for the meantime. 7-11 has 30 peso coffee that tastes as good. Dun na muna ako magkakape. Hehe.