Ballet Talk

Ballet has been the talk of the house lately. The girls' upcoming performance is in March, but we are busy going to dress rehearsals and doing other ballet related things. You would think it's silly for a three and five year old to have so many rehearsals, right? Their studio is a very serious ballet studio, the kind of place that graduates girls to go onto a college and professional level of ballet.

So the performance in March is a HUGE ordeal and each year they put on a full ballet. Last year it was "Swan Lake". This year it is "Romeo and Juliet". The principal dancers are of course the older girls, but the younger classes have supporting roles. Like this year, Hailey and Lauren's class is the rose petals. They will dance along with a senior soloist on stage. Last year it was adorable and I'm sure this year will be no different. So when the big girls get together for dress rehearsals, any supporting dancers have to be there as well. Our girls have a rehearsal this Saturday, then pictures the following Saturday, then two more rehearsals early March before the big day on March 12th. Whew!

They got their costumes today and they are very cute, and very classy. They are steamed and prepared to perform in, so the trick is going to be keeping the girls from playing dress up in them between now and March. Since they know they will be hanging in my closet, it's going to be hard!
{The pictures are poor quality because they are from my phone.} The last two weeks of class has been practice in the "big ball room". On Tuesday the moms got to watch and it was quite the scene. A bunch of little ones trying to keep up with their teacher was funny! Above Hailey and Lauren are waiting patiently for their turn.
Can you tell which one is Hailey? She is to the teacher's left. Lauren is two girls down from Hailey. It's a trip watching Hailey during class because she is uber serious. I think it's kind of odd for a five year old to take it so seriously, but she does. In this picture, the teacher had just said "Position!" Hailey's feet imediately popped out. Her body tightened and her chin was up. She was ready! She does this every class too. And when they stretch...look out. She doesn't joke around. The other day after she took a bath she was asking me about "the splits". Ha, I told her that once upon a time I could do that stuff, but not anymore. So then we pulled up YouTube and looked at a bunch of videos of dancers stretching. She got down on the floor and started doing it herself, then spent the next half hour until bedtime on the living room floor stretching. The next day at ballet she was excited to show Miss Christina her new tricks.

It doesn't stop there. Lately Hailey has insisted that she is "done with junk food". WHAT??!!

She says "Ballet dancers only eat healthy foods, so I am only eating healthy food from now on." Crazy! And she is sticking to it for the most part. This worries me a little because if she does end up continuing in ballet and going on to a serious level, she has plenty of years to worry about her body image. She is way too young to be thinking like this! What is crazy is it's NOT the teacher who is telling her this stuff. She just has it in her head.

And then there is Chudda, who is just having fun being three years old. She likes to go to ballet, but again she is only three and acts like a three year old should. I like that. When Hailey came home from school today she found the costumes hanging up and went ballistic. She pulled her clothes off to try it on right away. She told Lauren to go put her costume on but Lauren is having a "three year old" day and was stubborn and wouldn't comply. Hailey was so mad and yelled at her "Lauren! Don't you know we need to practice, and I can't dance as the only rose petal! Go put your costume on NOW!!" The Diva was quite mad.