(tw: parental strictness and homophobia )**
[name_f]Loretta[/name_f] [name_u]Marie[/name_u] Kretschner (41) is [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] 's ballet teacher and the mother of one of the boys in the ballet class , although not [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] 's newest friend. Ballet has always been her passion and she spent most of her childhood training it - her first class occurred when she was 6 and she had a moderately succesful career as a professional dancer up to age 26.
That’s when she got pregnant with her oldest daughter , who’s now 15. She is now a mother of five - three boys and two girls - who she and her husband adore dearly , even though [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] tends to be the much stricter parent while her husband is the “fun one " who always cuts them some slack and takes them on fun trips where once a semester they skip school to spend a day close to nature - which, given the captivating landscapes of [name_u]New[/name_u] Brunschwick , is not particularly difficult. Being a typical Commander type she’s a natural leader and a rational discussions are the only way for her to actually discuss rules in the home and in her class - even then a disagreement is no good reason for questioning her authority. She has trouble connecting emotionally to her children - and her eldest daughter , who’s an ENFP , rebels against her regularly because of that because she feels like [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] can be a tyrant who stifles her personal expression , while all she wants for her is to hold herself to a certain standard and actually achieve her goals instaed of just being the dreamy social butterfly that she is. Her second eldest son - a 12-year-old , and her husband are the daughter’s closest confidants and as [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] 's husband jokes " teens will be teens , you won’t just nullify the rebel phase”. She shows certain favouritism to her 10-year-old daughter - the third eldest - who has a similliar personality to her when it comes to following her own schedule , setting goals and following a rigid routine, however she’s the shyest and quietest of her siblings , being a typical introvert. Her 8-year-old son has the same kind of dance-related inclination as [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] even if he thinks that ballet is not the way for him and dances hip-hop because , quote - " It’s cooler ". That leaves her youngest son - a 5 year old - to dance ballet , and even though she’s the teacher , she holds her son to a higher standard than most of her students because she believes the boy has true talent and that by being lax for him she would lose her reputation as someone who commands respect among the children and motivates them to give their all with actual focus. She doesn’t tolerate commenting on other’s performance during the lesson as she doesn’t want them to get to the children and discourage them from bettering themselves or their movements. She emphasises flexibility and stretching as well as synchroisation in her groups - knowing that to have ballet skills is not only to be in tune with your own body but also know how to cooperate with other dancers. She’s glad that she has four boys including her son and [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] in the class , because not only does it allow her to choose sequences where both a boy and a girl dancer are required for the recital to work , but also shows her that gender roles are not as strongly engraved in the hearts of parents - one of her most talented student was a 15 year old guy who could have gone for a professional ballet-related scholarship to [name_f]Russia[/name_f] but his father forcibly removed him from the activity and sent him off to a boarding school in northern [name_f]Canada[/name_f] becuse he was adament the dancing " turned " the boy gay - it didn’t , he was like that from the start and [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] was the first person that he told about it because he was so afraid to tell his parents. [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] to this day regrets that she didn’t attempt to console the boy and simply told him off for " disclosing personal matters in class " without recongising how distressed he truly was behind close doors and how his talent for dancing had been turned to nothibg by his father despite [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] trying to intervene. She knows how this feels like - she herself never recieved support from her own ballet teacher either and after getting pregnant she told [name_f]Loretta[/name_f] that sbe "destroyed her career " and " her adventure with ballet is over " because she has no chance to going back to the profession once she becomes a mother. Only her husband and his love of nature & adventure taught her the subtle art of not really basing your self-worth on an authrority figure , so she became determined to prove her teacher wrong by becoming a mother five times over and still managing to connect her life to ballet by channelling her passion to the younger generation.