Exam day

The day started with me taking the bigger braids out of Ruth's hair. The hair always looks so lovely like this - with lovely gentle curls. It has done what I had hoped and kept the braids nice and long (if she sleeps with them loose they tend to curls up and are too short for the bun) so we could get all the hair into a pretty bun this morning.

We dropped Hannah off at Julia and then had some pies on the way to the exam venue. Rachel has always had her exams after lunch and so it has become a tradition for us to have pies for lunch on the way there. It was nice to have the extra bit of time to sit in the lunch room and enjoy it as an outing too. We arrived at the venue with plenty of time to spare (the teachers asks that you get there 30 min before) and so the girls could get dressed and ready.

Ruth's exam was just after the examiner's lunch break. The teacher had asked that we quickly get a photo with the examiner as she hopes she can get a photo in a National magazine. So the girls who were there and ready (the first 3 sessions after lunch) had their photo taken. This was a great help to Ruth because I could tell her she now had no reason to be shy because she had already seen the examiner - and heard her. She is an IDTA Examiner from Britain who comes out and does examinations around the country. We will only have the girls results once she has done all her rounds.

Three girls from Ruth's group were first after lunch.

With the way they ran into the hall so that they stood in order in front of the examiner - Ruth needed to lead them. So quite a responsibility for a little one who is not even 5 yet (the other girls are 6 already). I am sure it all went well though (the teacher can't even watch them - she runs the music from behind a screen). Ruth told me afterwards that she remembered everything. They all just forgot to go to the back of the room before their gallops - but the teacher just waited with the music until one of them remembered.

Then it was Rachel's turn. She is so funny to watch before an exam. She gets so excited she literally bounces. She was pleased to tell me that she remember to keep her head up (she has a habit of looking at her feet as they don't have a mirror in the hall that they practice in). She was however terribly disappointed with her final dance as she got her feet the wrong way around (front and back) in one step and so they were not in the correct position for the next step. She had to "fix" it and carry on but she was devastated as she knew the dance so very well. It was a good opportunity to talk through disappointments and to also point out all that went well and all that she did know and get right. I am very confident she has done well - especially with her end dance as I just love watching her dance it.

I will post their results as soon as we get them.