Naturally, I feel very proud reading your report. I agree about Elise. If she can catch up and be comfortable as the youngest in an older, taller group, that’s where she should be. (I started school as one of the oldest in my kindergarten class, and I’ve never been sorry I got skipped forward a grade, even though I had to get used to being one of the youngest and smallest.)

Jacob will need lots of encouragement to get him to stick with the discipline of learning the basics, but I’m sure he can become as good as he desires. I’m glad his teacher is so excited, and I hope she’s got what it takes to work with him and hold his interest. I hope it will be okay for him to continue as an occasional student of the Class studio, too. As you know (but I repeat for your cyberaudience), his first tap lesson was there on August 8. You can see him with teacher Lana at http://friendlywork.com/family/thrap/jacob-tapper.jpg . She pushed him, and I think the picture shows they were both happy with his effort. At the end of his hour, he was very tired of being up on his toes. He said he just wants to make his feet “go crazy” like he sees on TV and in movies. She told him he needs to start by understanding all the precise moves those dancers must master to be able to LOOK LIKE they’re going crazy.

Lana is the daughter of master performer/coach Bruce Brown. See the story I wrote about Bruce soon after he arrived in Muscatine: http://muscanet.com/~dclark/published/brownbldg2.html .

Of course I’ll see to it that Bruce and Lana receive your update on Jacob’s progress! Since you didn’t include it, I’ll add that the kids’ Encore Dance Academy is online at http://www.1eda.com/

Dad/GrandpaDan