Ballroom Dance Camp

Brigham Young University (my husband's alma mater) for all that I mock it, does provide an excellent education at a very affordable price.  One of their particular areas of expertise is dance.  Benjamin went to dinosaur camp last summer in Wyoming, so when he realized that we were going to be out west again in the summer, he asked if he could attend again.  Unfortunately, they'd changed the camp to day trips that didn't really work out with our schedule anyway, so we started looking down in Utah for camps.  The only one that fit his age and interests happened to be the Youth Ballroom Dance Camp at BYU.  

Benjamin has been in dance classes since he was 5 years old, so he's no stranger to the world of dance, but for some reason I was totally surprised by how excited he got when I mentioned Ballroom Dance Camp.  He's never done anything like this before, but he was really excited to try.  So, we signed him up.

He had a wonderful time and at the end of camp was begging to be able to go every year until he turns 18, at which point, he informed us, he'll just be able to take college classes like that and won't need camp.

I was really proud of him for walking into a brand new place with hundreds of other kids he didn't know.  (Although, at the end of camp showcase we realized there were no fewer than 5 kids from our old stake in NJ, and one of them was a former piano student of mine.)  He was also in charge of himself all day and hung out with extended relatives at night, but he loved it and did a really good job with both of those things.

(We will not mention how often his mother had to call to talk to him because her BABY was in an entirely different state without her!!!)  

Lilyanna enjoying the end of camp showcase from underneath a chair.

This is a clip of them doing their New York Swing at the final Showcase.  Benjamin is as per usual the tall skinny one, he's in a white shirt and dancing with the cute blond wearing all black.  There were actually too many boys in their age group, so they did it twice so all the boys could have a turn.  Benjamin is in the back corner of the ballroom the second time through with a couple other boys.  You can tell which one is him by the one man dance solo he is putting on for himself and 500 other people in the ballroom.

This kid makes me smile.

A lot.