Big Ballet Debut

This past summer, after watching a movie, Shelly innocently commented that she wished she was a ballerina. When fall started getting close and we had our annual discussion about "what activity this year?", Shelly said she didn't want to do Awana again. She wanted to take dance lessons. We scouted out all the dance studios we could find and settled on one. The one farthest away from home, the one that you have to drive through shady neighborhoods, that's the one that caught our attention. That's where we joined. It didn't hurt that we spied Nutcracker costumes on our tour of the studio. It helped that we got to see some ballerinas in action during a class they were taking.

Anyway, we've been travelling down to the studio once a week for Shelly's ballet lessons and she seems to really enjoy it. Not long after the school year started, the notice came out - all those interested in participating in the Nutcracker production should complete a form and mark their calendars... And away we go!

Then, instead of just classes on Wednesdays, we also had rehearsals on Sundays. Once it got closer to the big weekend, there were MORE rehearsals and planning and discussions of hair and makeup and what color tights, what color shoes, what time to show up, where are we supposed to go? Do we have enough bobby pins, hair nets, hair spray, snacks?

 

The big day finally arrived, after countless hours of rehearsal we got to settle in and truly enjoy the show. What an incredible performance by ALL of the dancers. Shelly was an angel and performed her role perfectly.

We were treated to multiple showings, Shelly performed five times in four days (including the full-length rehearsals). By the end of the weekend we were thrilled at the opportunity we'd had, and also completely exhausted and thankful for the holiday break from ballet, two whole weeks off before we start up again next year!