SHELTON When 3-year-old Ellie O'Rourke rolls out of bed on Wednesdays at 7 a.m., she's raring to go to a dance class that doesn't even start until 10.
"She's ready to put on her tutu," said dad Sean O'Rourke as he stood outside the dance studio at the Shelton Community Center. "She loves the class." She's not alone.
Feride Keklik's 4-year-old daughter Lauren was not at all happy that the July Fourth holiday fell on a Wednesday because that meant no dance class. "She was so angry," Keklik said. "Every day, she's asks 'Is it today?
' " While Keklik, O'Rourke and the other parents waited out in the hallway, inside the dance studio their daughters, dressed in pink, black or blue tutus, were attempting to stay in a straight line in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors and their instructor, Julie Arcos. "It's really just to get them some coordination and poise," Arcos said of the eight-week course she's taught at the center for six years. "And to learn how to follow instructions and behave.
" Arcos leads the little ones through some simple tap steps and then passes out pairs of wooden rhythm sticks, asking each dancer what she plans to be that day. The most popular answer among the 10 girls in the class is "Belle," the heroine from "Beauty and the Beast," followed closely by the more generic "ballerina." Arcos had the girls sit cross-legged on the floor, and tap their sticks in time to the music before leading them on a "choo-choo train" routine.
SHELTON When 3-year-old Ellie O'Rourke rolls out of bed on Wednesdays at 7 a.m., she's raring to go to a dance class that doesn't even start until 10.
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