Jaime has been dancing with Mrs. Gentry for 7 years. Niah 2 years. Alix 1 year. I LOVE Mrs. Gentry. She is definitely the last of her kind. She is 88 years old and just LOVES dance. Mrs. Gentry knew how to get those girls to do whatever she wanted them to do. At times us moms would sit there in amazement at how fast and efficient Mrs. Gentry could get the girls to learn a dance move. Truly a talented teacher.
So when Mrs. Gentry fell ill in late February and stopped coming to classes in late March we were all pretty sad. When she made her retirement announcement we were even sadder. But saddest of all was that she did not make it to the dance recital. I assume her health is improving, but since thousands of Fremont residence would like to know, they aren’t making it public knowledge (guess Mrs. Gentry would like a little bit of privacy!!). She’s taught dance for this city for 46 years!! Amazing huh?
Anyway, because we knew this was the last dance recital our girls would be participating in, it was a bitter sweet performance. Grandma and Grandpa Thompson came as did Uncle Louis and his girlfriend Brielle. It was a fun weekend and our girls did GREAT! There were a couple of jokes about how it was a Thompson girl recital! I had a girl in every other dance in the first half of the show! Made the show worth it though….
[Jaime in back in red]
[Niah in back right in the middle]
[See Alix? Back, left.]
Notice how the Thompson girls are in the back. Almost hard to find?? I’m realizing they are tall compared to the other girls their age and so they end up in the back!
[Jaime, back, second from the left]
[Niah’s the only one who had a dance where the kids stopped long enough for me to snap a picture. Jaime and Alix both had dances where they were constantly moving and so the pictures came out super blurry!]
We had lots of friends and family come out and support the girls. Thanks guys!!
[Alix, Gayle, and Niah]
[Lelani, Jovani, Jaime, Alix and Niah]
[Jaime and Analease]
[Alix, Sister Barnes and Madeline]
[Jaime, Niah, Emilie, Sophie and Alix]
[Grandma and Grandpa Thompson w/ The Girls]
[Everyone!]
Afton is the most broken hearted about not doing dance class. She has been dreaming about dance for the last 3 years and has talked about ‘when I am in dance class’ for most of this year. So we took her back to the dressing rooms so she could at least see them.
Like I said, this was a bitter sweet dance recital. The girls were fabulous. They danced their best and everyone loved it. It was enjoyable for us because our girls were in so many of the dances. We had a good time watching each dance. But now it’s over and it’s very sad. Especially for Jaime. She has lived and breathed dance for 7 years and when you are only 11 that is a long time. One day she’ll get out the pictures, scrap books, videos etc and say ‘When I was little….’
Love you girls. You are awesome!
I took dancing from Mrs. Gentry when I was a girl and then my Rayne learned from her when she was a little girl too! I imagine there are thousands of little girls who remember Mrs. Gentry with great pleasure. I loved all your dancing photos!