Sofia the First S3 E9

## Plot

The kids are making enchanted plants grow in Royal Prep's greenhouse. Kari grows six singing sunflowers. She figured out that they sing higher or lower depending on how much plant food you give them. She catches all of Zooey's out of control bouncing bluebells. She was voted the MVP in the dazzleball tournament. She's also captain of the gymnastics team, and she turned chocolate into gold in alchemy class. Basically, she's the ace. She's naturally good at everything. Flora tells the kids that the day after tomorrow, they'll be hosting an Arts Night. Their parents will come and see all the artistic things they do at Royal Prep. Zooey, Clio, and Derek want to put on an enchanted orchestra performance. Vivian, James, and Khalid want to decorate the halls with student art work. Miss Elodie needs dancers to perform a ballet. Sofia and Amber volunteer, but the dance needs three people. Sofia asks Kari to dance with them, but she's never done ballet before. Flora is surprised to hear that, since her mother, Queen Tessa, was a star ballerina when she went to Royal Prep. Kari never had the time to try it. Sofia and Amber offer to help her learn the steps, since they've taken a few classes. Kari agrees to do it. They watch Miss Elodie perform the choreography, which are all real ballet moves, I think. It starts with a pirouette, an arabesque, into a glissade, and ending with a grand jeté. Basically, a spin, a pose, a joining step, and a jump. Kari thinks it looks really hard. Sofia tells her that the pirouette is pretty easy. They all do it, but Kari keeps falling down. She apologizes, but Miss Elodie tells her there's no need to, since she's never done this before. Amber says it won't be long before she's just as good as her mom. No matter what she does though, she just keeps falling down. She stays in during recess to keep practicing. Sofia says she can take a little break, but she wants to do a perfect pirouette. At the end of the day, she reluctantly gives her mom an invitation to Arts Night, and tells her that she'll be performing a ballet. She says that she hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. Her mom is sure that she'll make her proud though, because she always does. The next day, she arrives early to practice. Sofia and Amber try to get her to lighten up and have some fun, because she's taking this too seriously. Kari messes up another pirouette, but Sofia tells her that she made up a fun dance move, and calls it the Kari Hop. She doesn't want to disappoint her parents. Sofia tries to tell her that having fun is what's really important. Kari finally nails a pirouette. However, she's worried that she won't be able to learn the other moves in time. Miss Elodie asks her old teacher, Sergio Adagio, to give Kari a special lesson at Sofia and Amber's castle. Eventually, with some unconventional training, she's able to do all the moves. The next day though, she falls down when doing a pirouette. Amber tells her that it's because it takes a lot of practice to get it right every single time. She keeps trying, and she almost gets it, but she's convinced that it has to be perfect. She says she might not be able to be in the show and runs away. Sofia goes after her. She tells her that everyone makes mistakes, and she just has to have fun. Kari agrees to do it. That night, she messes up and falls down, but she gets back up, and they all start doing the Kari Hop. Everyone loves it, especially her parents, who are so proud of her, and are glad to see that she's having fun.

## Review

I love this episode so much. I love Kari too. She's so relatable. I don't consider myself an ace in anything, but I'm a total perfectionist, and I apologize too often for things that aren't even my fault, or just don't need an apology. I'm one of those people who apologizes for saying sorry too much. Yeah. I'm definitely glad that I don't have parents who put a ton of pressure on me to be "perfect." In fact, I originally wrote this right after my high school awards night, where I only got a bronze cord and a perfect attendance certificate. Yay. I also got *cum laude* (Latin for "with praise") when I graduated from college with a B.A. In all seriousness though, life is not a game or a competition, and the important things should be to have fun and enjoy what you do. Don't just go through the motions because it's what the rest of your family, friends, society, or the world expects of you. Do what you want to do.