Hello friends! We’re the Ostmo family, and we love learning about countries and people. Our oldest daughter, Melaya, has tons of friends all around the world and one of them lives in Paris, France and her name is Victoria.

Ballet is Victoria’s Favorite Dance Style

Victoria’s mom is a professional ballet dancer and Victoria has been learning a lot about ballet from her mom. She said ballet dancing involves a lot of fancy footwork and the dancer will often use their arms to help them balance. Victoria told Melaya that ballet is very popular in France and many French people are interested in learning it. 

She said she loves watching her mom’s performance on stage. Performance is being able to display your skills in front of an audience.  Victoria says she likes ballet very much, but she’s not very good at it yet! She is very excited to learn about ballet and she wants to be a professional ballerina like her mom when she grows up. 

Have you ever seen a ballet dancer?

Over in California Ricardo Loves Salsa

More than 5,000 miles away from Melaya’s home, lives another of her friends named Ricardo. He and Melaya chatted a while ago and Ricardo told Melaya that he recently started taking salsa classes with his sister. Salsa? Like the hot sauce you put on your tortilla chips? No, not that kind of salsa. Salsa is a dance style that combines Cuban dances like mambo and American dances such as swing and tap. Ricardo said that the dancing was very difficult at first, but he’s getting better every day. He also told Melaya that he’s very interested in learning salsa because is very popular in Cuba, where his grandfather is from, and he wants to learn more about his relatives and their culture.

Femi is an Excellent Bolojo Dancer

Pretty far from the US, in Nigeria lives Femi, Melaya’s friend 

Femi loves dancing and singing and he is a very good dancer. He has won many competitions and even performed in front of a lot of people at parties and competitions. He says he hears people rejoicing while he is performing and it makes him so happy.

Femi’s favorite dance style is Bolojo, which is a style of dance that originated in Nigeria. The dancing is very fast and energetic, and it makes people move their bodies in crazy ways. Femi loves Bolojo because it’s fun to watch and even more fun to practice it.

What about you, do you like fast-moving dances or do you prefer slow ones?

Olivia and the “Little Stars” Practice Break Dancing

In Canada, lives a girl named Olivia, who’s also Melaya’s friend. Olivia loves break dancing. She’s part of a group of young dancers who call themselves “Little Stars” she’s very flexible and always dances with ease. Break dancing involves a lot of spinning and flipping. It’s a very hard style of dance to learn, but it’s also one of the most fun and free.

Olivia loves break dancing so much, she even has a YouTube channel where she posts videos of her classes and performances. She’s so talented!

Would you like to post videos on YouTube or somewhere else about the things you like to do?

Dina Performs Belly Dancing at Weddings and Other Celebrations

Melaya has a friend named Dina who lives in Egypt, an African country over 2,000 miles from London! Dina is a belly dancer. She wears a beautiful costume, called abaya, made of silk and gold thread. Dina says when she wears it, she gets a lot of compliments from family and friends and it’s very flattering.

Dina dances for her classes and also performs at special events like weddings or celebrations. Belly dancing involves moving the hips, stomach, and chest in a circular motion to music. The dance originated in ancient Egypt as part of religious ceremonies, but it has evolved into an art form enjoyed by people worldwide. Dina says that belly dancing is an important part of Egyptian culture and that she loves to dance. She also likes to wear her abaya when she goes out in public because it makes her feel special and beautiful.

Melaya also loves dancing, she said she wants to take some tap dance classes and maybe some Tango and Cha Cha classes too.

Tell us in the comments what your favorite dance style is! If you want to learn more about different dance styles, make sure to download the activity pack. We have flashcards, a learning guide, handwriting sheets, and drawings pages all dedicated to various dance styles!

Melaya loves chatting with kids from all over the world! If you want to teach Melaya about where you live or your favorite activities, please tell your mom or dad to use @learningtail on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to get in touch with us. 

Ciao friends, until next time!