竹馬. . .bamboo horse

this summer at dance cream (my main dance studio) i tried to learn how to use 竹馬 (kind of japanese stilts made of bamboo – hence 竹~bamboo and 馬~horse). . . anyway. . . i failed to succeed. . . both of the little kids (sakura’s sister who is a first grader in elementary school and another dancer’s daughter who is a third grader) can hobble around the studio on them. . . many of the adults can even do low arabesques and work their way up to a slow jog. . . i eventually managed to stand for two seconds and a few times succeeded in taking one and a half steps before falling off. . .i just can’t seem to make the same arm work with the same leg. . .

earlier this month, i attended the nursery school 運動会 (sports festival) to discover that my problem may not be due purely to lack of coordination. . . maybe more a lack of training from the time i was in diapers. . . see for yourself. . . my kids are the coolest. . .

this is what i call the pre-takeuma stage. . . the three year olds start on these little can like things, as you can see. . .

these are the five year olds. . . they can go a full 50 meters or so on those things. . . and, as you can see, some of them are set at a level as high as the kids themselves. . . すごいですよ！