Miss Penny: Hi kids.

Hi baton teachers.

I'm Miss Penny and I'm here to learn about baton twirling.

Noella: Hi, Miss Penny.

Welcome.

We're so excited you're here.

I'm Miss Noella and this is Miss Katie.

Miss Penny: I'm really excited to learn about baton twirling.

What is baton twirling?

Noella: Baton twirling is a combination of dance, cheerleading, and this metal stick that we call a baton.

It has a metal shaft, a big end that we call the ball, and a little end that is the tip.

Girls practice very hard to learn twirls and tricks.

Girls, are you ready to learn how to twirl a baton?

Kids: Yes.

Miss Penny: Yes.

Noella: Great.

Miss Penny: Great.

Noella: First we're going to learn about the baton.

Miss Katie.

Katie: If you look at your baton, you're going to have one side that's really, really big.

Can you say big?

Kids: Big.

Katie: Do you know what letter the word big starts with?

B. I want you to say, big, big ball.

Kids: Big, big ball.

Katie: Good.

If you flip your baton over, you see that one side is super, super tiny.

Can you say tiny?

Kids: Tiny.

Katie: What letter does tiny start with?

Kids: T. Katie: T, good.

We're going to say tiny, tiny tip.

Kids: Tiny, tiny tip.

Katie: Good.

When we hold our baton, when we're not twirling, we're going to hold it with our tip at the end, and we're going to put it right next to our hip.

Our other hand is going to go in a fist right on our hip.

Good job.

Beautiful.

The first twirl we're going to learn is a horizontal twirl that we call a flat spin.

I want you to put your baton out to the side and have anybody made pancakes before?

Have you ever made pancakes?

Yeah?

We're going to pretend like we're mixing our ingredients to make a pancake.

Can you make a circle and mix your ingredients?

Good job.

Now that we know which way our baton is going, we're going to try and make our baton as flat as it can go, just like a pancake.

If you look at Miss Noella or Miss Katie's arms, we're just as flat as a pancake.

Can I see you try?

Noella: Pancakes are flat and horizontal.

Katie: When we do our spin, we want to try and make it as flat as possible while still mixing our ingredients.

Noella: Nice Job, Parker.

Good.

Miss Penny: Beautiful.

Noella: Good Penelope, good Sonny, good Miss Penny.

You're doing it.

Miss Penny: Thank you.

Noella: Very nice.

Miss Penny: It feels fun.

Noella: The next thing we're going to learn is bicycles.

They're the opposite.

They're vertical.

They go up and down like this.

Miss Katie, go ahead.

Katie: Can everybody say bicycles?

Kids: Bicycles.

Katie: Good.

Have you ever seen a bicycle before?

Yes.

Do you know how the wheels turn?

We're going to do the same thing with our baton, but we're going to put it right out in front of us.

This is a vertical spin, so it's going to go up and down.

We're going to grab our baton with a little, little pinch.

Can you pinch your fingers?

Noella: Tiny alligators with your fingers.

Katie: Good.

We're going to grab one side of our baton and we're going to push forward.

Good.

Now with your other hand, I want to see your tiny, tiny alligators one more time and we're going to grab again and push forward.

Good.

We're going to go away from our pretty face.

We're going to go pinch and push.

With your other hand, you're going to go pinch and push.

Noella: Good.

Katie: Beautiful.

Noella: Nice job.

Nice job, Miss Penny.

Miss Penny: Thank you.

Noella: Your baton is spinning vertically.

Nice job girls.

Whenever we're twirling, we stand with our feet together and we have good posture.

Hold our tummies up tall, we lift our chins.

The most important thing a baton twirler has is a great big... Miss Penny: Smile.

Noella: Let me see your pretty smiles.

Good job.

Keeping those batons vertical.

Where's your smiles?

There we go.

Katie: So beautiful.

Noella: Nice job.

Okay, now we're going to learn a toss.

We're going to learn a tick tock toss.

Miss Penny: Oh, boy.

Noella: Are you ready?

When the baton goes in the air, we're going to try very hard to catch it, okay?

All right, so go ahead Miss Katie.

Katie: I want you to take your free hand, the one that doesn't have a baton in it, and you're going to put it straight out to the side.

Just like our pancakes, it's going to be flat.

Good.

With our other hand, we're going to hold the big, big ball of our baton.

Can you hold the big, big ball?

Good.

We're going to put it flat out to the side just like our other arm.

Beautiful.

Noella: Other hand Miss Sonny.

There we go.

Miss Penny: Good.

Noella: That's it.

Katie: We're going to go, have you ever seen a clock before?

Yes.

It tells time in a circle, right?

What we're going to do with our hand is we're going to pretend we're a clock and we're going to go tick.

Noella: Tick.

Miss Penny: Tick.

Katie: Good.

Tock.

Noella: Tock.

Katie: Around the clock.

Noella: And we made a big circle.

Katie: Around the clock.

We're going to go down by our toes.

Noella: Down by your toes.

Katie: Past your arm.

Then we're going to let go.

A little, little toss and try and catch it.

Noella: Yay.

Look at you guys catching your baton.

Katie: Yes.

Noella: Great job.

Katie: Let's try it one more time.

All the way from the beginning.

Noella: All together.

Let's do it all together.

Katie: Tick.

Noella: Tick.

Katie: Tock.

Noella: Tock.

Katie: Around the clock.

Noella: Around the clock.

Katie: Down by our toes and let go.

Noella: That's okay.

We call that a drop and we practice really hard so that we don't drop it anymore.

Good job.

Everyone give yourself a round of applause.

Good job.

I'm so proud of all of you.

Miss Penny: Hi Shiny.

Do you want to do a baton trick with me?

Fantastic.

Let's do an exchange.

First, I have to get my body ready, so my posture has to be good.

My shoulder's back, my toe pointed and I'm going to turn towards you.

Now you throw it to me.

Ta-da.

Now I'm going to throw it back to you.

Ready?

On three.

1, 2, 3.

Good job.

Ta-da.

Why do kids do baton twirling?

Why would they come and join?

Noella: Baton twirling is a great thing for them to start to build self-confidence and fine motor skills and gross motor skills, but it also gives them the ability to compete.

They can learn and practice, they'll learn routines and they'll go to competitions and possibly win trophies and things like that.

They can perform in parades, halftime shows.

Lots of girls choose to twirl with their college once they graduate from high school.

They get to twirl at football games and things like that and whenever they want to perform.

Miss Penny: Oh, it sounds so much fun.

Noella: It is a lot of fun.

Girls who twirl usually compete on a team and individually and when they compete on a team, they learn to work together and help each other out.

They root for each other and make each other feel good about themselves.

It's a really nice sense that they get from a team, a nice sense of family.

Miss Penny: How about a competition?

How do you get ready for a competition?

What do you need to do for that?

Noella: You need costumes that have lots of sparkle.

Miss Penny: Love that.

Noella: We usually wear tights under our costumes.

Again, like Katie said, the jazz shoes or the Cougars.

You'll have to wear your hair up neatly, usually in a bun, pulled back out of your face.

They like to wear a lot of stage makeup.

What's the most important thing they need at a competition, Miss Katie?

Katie: A smile.

Miss Penny: We can do that.

Kid Vision kids, I think we're ready to watch a full twirling routine.

Come on, let's go.

Amazing.

What do you love about baton twirling?

Speaker 4: I love baton twirling because of its close community.

Ever since I was little, my teammates and even people who aren't on my team have been very supported.

Even if I do something wrong, they teach me how to be my best.

Miss Penny: That's a terrific answer.

What do you love about baton twirling?

Speaker 5: I love being able to perform and put all my showmanship out on the floor for the judges and the audience to see and I can turn into a completely different person.

Miss Penny: I love that too.

Baton twirlers, you're just beautiful to watch.

I love your costumes.

Can you tell me a little bit about your costume?

Speaker 4: Yes.

This is my strut costume.

I use it when I'm doing leaps or modeling on the floor.

It has a skirt and it's my favorite color, pink.

Miss Penny: I love pink.

It's a beautiful costume.

Tell me about your costume.

Speaker 5: I use my costume for solo, which is where we put out all of our biggest tricks on the floor and mine is also my favorite color, pink.

Speaker 4: This is our team costume.

We use it when we're dancing together and I love it.

Miss Penny: It is beautiful.

What I love about baton twirling is all the sparkle.

Speaker 4: Yes.

Miss Penny: You can't have enough rhinestones.

It's absolutely perfect and I see your trophies.

When you win, you win big trophies, correct?

And sashes.

Speaker 4: Yeah.

We wear crowns and sashes when we win and I love it.

Miss Penny: You look just amazing.

Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 4: Thank you.

Miss Penny: Good job.

Bye.