Dance Milestones: First Pointe Shoes

At long last Sarah got her first pair of pointe shoes! This is a huge milestone for a ballet dancer, and Sarah has worked hard for almost 5 years for them. Her class got to go on pointe last semester, and she was held back because her teacher thought she wasn't ready yet. Finally, the day came and she can say she is officially a pointe dancer. I'm so proud of this girl!

Nothing is prettier than brand new satin pointe shoes!

Practicing at home on our wainscot mini barre

Beauty personified

Breaking in the pointe shoes

Untying ribbons

T'was The Night Before Christmas Holiday Ballet

Sarah's annual holiday dance production "T'was the Night Before Christmas was quite the show for her this year. She was in a total of 6 dances and had the most dances of anyone in the show, which is over 200 people! She danced the roll of the sleeping child, which was her first special part. She danced with the sugar plums and assists with that class as a student helper. She loves doing it and enjoyed dancing with them on stage. Then she got to be a cat, which has been a dream of hers for a few years now. This was for her student helper class. Her ballet class did a beautiful dance to the song "Holly and Ivy" and she was an ivy. The girls dance in pairs, and she was with a Holly. She just started taking Latin dance this year and their partner dance was called "Cider and Spice." She was "Cider" and I helped make the skirts and the Spice tops. Then she was "Night" for her modern class. They did a beautiful dance to an instrumental version of Silent Night. Then she was also in the finale, phew! She did two shows, had two dances back to back with a super quick change, and did a wonderful job! I'm so proud of my girl!

Sleeping Child

Cat

Ivy in "Holly and Ivy" - ballet

Cider in "Cider and Spice" - latin

"Night" - modern

Fall Dance Shoot

Every year Sarah's dance school puts out a calendar. This year I thought it would be fun to take some outdoor pics of her. We ended up doing the shoot in our yard and took around 80 pics! These were some of the best. Her teacher ended up choosing the second one down for March, which is one of my favs. Isn't my ballerina beautiful?!

Favorite Pic of the Week

Sarah's ballet class practicing for their performance this weekend. Sarah is in the front. I loved this picture because of all of the motion and action in it!

Ready for Dance Class

I'm not usually able to get a good picture of Sarah dressed up for dance class, but my dad was able to get a really cute one when he was here this past weekend. Here is our little ballerina!

Ballet Class

Tonight I watched Sarah's ballet class and took a few pics. She is doing so well in class and loves to dance! She has come such a long way in just four years, I'm very proud. Here are a few pics of her class:

Catching some air with her leap.

I had some fun in photoshop with this one!

Stretching at the barre. I love the composition of this picture with the girls all relaxed in their stretch on the right and the teacher on the left talking to one of the girls. Sarah is to the right of her teacher doing a split stretch on the barre.

Practicing their choreography for the Christmas show as gingerbread people. Sarah is on the right.

Practicing their dance.

In attitude position, Sarah is the one in the middle on the left.

Sarah the Dancer

Sarah danced in her 6th ballet recital tonight, "Flora." She has been taking ballet for 3 1/2 years now, and has been taking modern dance for 1 year. I'm so proud of her accomplishments in such a short amount of time! She has gone from ballet 1 to ballet 4, (as of this fall), in a few years. (Most of the girls in her class have taken ballet since they were three or four.) She has two ballet classes per week; one of them is a pre pointe class. Then she takes her modern dance class once a week. She wants to add a Latin class next year. She works so hard to perfect her art. I was a dancer, so I know how difficult ballet really is. Dancers make ballet look really easy, but it is hard work! One of the kids in her class has a mom who is a photographer. She got these amazing pics of Sarah on the last day of class. I especially like the first one!

Stretching for splits. She has only a few inches to go!

She is notorious for having her ribbons untie mid dance. Her teacher asked the photographer to get this photo of her to memorialize the moment!


Cool twirly spin

Flora

Sarah is gearing up for her spring dance performance, "Flora"! This will be the 6th ballet she has been in after taking ballet for 3 years. She will be in 4 dances and will be a Bluebell, Lotus flower, ant, and will do a finale dance. She's been working really hard and the dances are all beautiful. She has really developed her dancing this year, I've been amazed to see her skill level advance so much. I've been helping with the costumes which are gorgeous! Stay tuned for more pictures and info about the performance!

My stately dancer

Sarah practicing her modern dance as a Lotus flower.

T'was the Night Before Christmas Ballet

The show was a smashing success, and I've been recovering from all of the festivities this week! I didn't realize how challenging it would be to both help make the show happen and be in it at the same time - but it was totally worth it. Both shows were full, at 500 people per show, so it was very well attended. It was quite the experience to be on stage again. I think the last time I've been on stage was in high school when I performed for one of my dance classes.

For those of you who didn't get to see the show, the ballet is based on the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" poem. Ron and I were in the first act which follows the poem story line. We got to sneak around on stage watching Santa bring presents and eat his cookies and milk! The second act is a depiction of "what really happened on Christmas night." A pirate king and ballerina doll come to life. The ballerina doll emerges from a ballerina music box, and the pirate king comes out of a treasure chest. Other characters come to life, such as Ginger Snap, a cookie. There are also ornaments that come to life: Tinsellina, Silverbella, Poinsettia, Icicelle and Misteltonia. Sarah's modern class did a dance to the moon light sonata. They were the moon light beams in the first act. She was one of the pirate king's pirates in the second act. Sarah's teacher Erin did a fabulous job with the show choreographing for 120 plus students! Here are some pics from the big event.

Sarah and I after the show posing on the pirate's treasure chest (that I painted by the way!)

Our beautiful pirate - she did a great job!

Sarah in her moon light costume getting ready to go on stage for her modern dance.

Me in my kerchief and Ron in his cap...

Ginger Snap, the cookie who comes to life!

Sarah's class doing their pirate dance. Sarah is in the front on the far right.

Dress rehearsal. Ginger snap is begging the pirate king to return the star.

It's Almost Show Time!

We're gearing up for the 'Twas The Night Before Christmas" ballet this Sunday. For locals, the show is at 2 and 6 this Sunday at the Van Duzer. You can purchase tickets at Mosgo's and Moons - $8 general and $6 for kids and seniors. It's going to be a fabulous show, you don't want to miss it! Ron and I are playing the parts of ma and pa this year, and Sarah is a pirate and moonlight. This is a truly professional production full of kids and adults. There will be around 120 kids/adults performing. Kids love this show which is why we're going to 2 performances this year. So I hope you can come, especially if you have kids! It's a great way to celebrate the joy of Christmas.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So I haven't been doing much blogging lately...mainly because I'm super busy working on projects for the "T'Was The Night Before Christmas" ballet. I've been designing, sewing, painting, etc. for the past few weeks. It's so much fun, but it's also a lot of hard work! Since we did this production last year we are using many of the same costumes. This year I've been doing more detail work. Some of the classes had a preview show the other day, so I got some pics of some of the costumes I've been working on:

This is Sarah's modern dance class. She's fourth from the left. They are moon light, and they dance to the Moon Light Sonata. I designed and made these costumes.

This is "Ginger Snap." Her costume is sooo cute! I sewed the M & M's onto her costume and did some alterations.

Last year I painted the treasure box and music box stage props. This year we're selling pirate eye patches and bun wreaths. They will be in these mini boxes which I painted.

I added this pic because I thought it turned out so cool! You can't use flash when people are dancing because it can throw their balance off and cause injury. So, I took this pic without the flash on slow shutter speed. It is the prima ballerina doing a pa de deux with the pirate king. I can actually see both of their faces in the pic.

Name This Dancer

Ok, time's up....it's me! Making costumes, stage props, etc. at this time of the year brings back fond memories of the time when I danced. This picture was taken from a wedding I performed at. It was one of the few performances I did in pointe shoes. I made a collage and incorporated it into it.

It's That Time Of Year Again!

It's that time of year again! I get the chance to work on the production crew for Sarah's ballet performances. Right now I'm working on the "T'was the Night Before Christmas" production. I love that I get to create and paint props, design and sew costumes and be my creative self! My first project was to hand sew a beaded applique onto the prima ballerina's leotard. Since the lace had to be sewed onto the bodice while the bodice was stretched I found the perfect model in Mr. Monkey. I stuffed his chest with a pillow falsie and he was the perfect model! Isn't he adorable?

"T'was the Night Before Christmas" shows at the Van Duzer December 14th at 4 and 6. It is an amazing professional production and kids love it because most of the performers are kids. This year Ron and I are making a cameo appearance, so you don't want to miss it!

Back to Ballet

My old toe shoes hanging on Sarah's door.

Last night I took a ballet class for the first time in about ten years! I can't believe it's been that long...wow. I started taking ballet in high school and loved it. I went to a really good performing arts high school that had a good multi faceted dance program. I also did worship dance at my church, led a dance team, and took some folk dancing classes. In college I continued to take dance. In my early twenties I taught children's dance through a recreation center. I quit dancing around the time Sarah was born, (yeah, kids are a major life change), and I always promised myself I would do it again...soon. But, the timing just never seemed to be right. I couldn't find the right teacher, and life was busy with Ron going to school full time. I was a full time stay at home mom of course, and somehow dancing just didn't happen. People always encouraged me to dance saying things like, "You're such a beautiful dancer, when are you going to dance again?" "Soon!" I would say, of course.

I have to say I regret not going back sooner. My muscles had a rough time remembering what to do, (let alone doing it), and after the class I felt like my body had been through a meat grinder; it hurt let me tell you! But, I don't regret it a bit, it was totally worth the pain. My teacher is Sarah's dance teacher, and she was so kind to me. I'm really grateful she is letting me take the class. It is beginning ballet after all, but still I feel like I'm starting from scratch all over again. My brain knows what to do, but my body is....well, a bit behind. It's a good challenge for me though, great exercise, and most of all it's fun. I love dancing and always have. There's something amazing about expressing creativity through motion and movement. I'm always in awe of how God created our bodies to move.

Seascapes Dance Performance

Sarah had her Spring ballet performance in June and it was incredible! The performance was in the Van Duzer (Humboldt State University's Theater.) The dances were all based on various sea creatures and sea life. Sarah was a damsel fish. I had the privilege of being able to work on costumes, props and set design. I painted the clam shell and treasure box you can see in one of the pics. I learned how to construct hats out of foam, wow was that an experience! It was much more challenging than I would have thought. You sculpt the foam with a razor blade, (very carefully!) I made and painted the damsel fish fin hats for Sarah's class (9 students in all.) I also made a puffer fish costume and hat, dolphin hats, painted the sea turtles, worked on the sea rock, and did more that I can't remember!

Our beautiful damsel fish

Seascapes Set (Clam Shell & Treasure Box I painted)

Some of the dancers the night before the performance painting UV light paint on the turtles I painted. When the lights went out in the dress rehearsal the cracks in the turtle didn't show up (they were supposed to be bright blueish) so we had to coat them the night before and they looked fantastic the day of the show!

Sarah with her dance teacher Erin - we love her!

After the show