The Knepper's European Adventures!: Hip-Hop

About 3 months ago, I signed the girls up to take a German hip-hop class. I learned of this class through an American friend of mine whose daughter (a friend of Leena's) was currently in the class. My girls love to dance, so I thought this may be something they would enjoy doing. They take the class in the small town of Östringen with a group of kids ages 5 through about 9. It's a small class and the teacher speaks English and is great about translating for the girls if they need help. There are only 3 Americans in the class (Leena, Taryn, and their friend Makenzie) but the girls have seemed to make friends with everyone. It amazes me how it takes very little communicating for kids to become friends. They tend to giggle amongst themselves a lot (probably because laughing is an international language) which is really cute. Anyway, last night, the hip-hop class put on a small performance in Östringen. The town of Östringen was putting on a mini-fest of sorts. All the shops along the main street were open until midnight and there were a lot of food and beer vendors and two stages set up (one on each end of the main street). So, our girls were set to perform on one of the stages. I was not entirely sure what to expect because the parents are not able to see any of the weekly hip-hop dance lessons and the girls are not good about sharing with me what they learn in class. Before the dance, Taryn expressed concern about forgetting the dance, but I assured her that no one would do it perfectly and that it was okay if she forgot parts or messed up. After the routine, I was very proud that neither girl froze on stage or appeared nervous. They actually did a really great job!! Afterwards, they said they had a great time! Here is a short video clip and some pictures. Taryn is in the frilly pink skirt, Leena is in the frilly black skirt and their American friend, Makenzie, is in the frilly black, white and pink skirt (so it's not too hard to pick out who the Americans are on stage!).