Friday, June 13, 2008

My Ballerina Girl

She started DANCING before she was born.
She kicked and twirled and made her presence known.
We would watch her knees, feet and elbows
dance across my abdomen as I lay on the couch in the evenings.
She was born and became known as "Scooter",
almost immediately.

She Began LEAPING on my lap at ONE MONTH...
We had to buy a "jumper" for her by the time
she was six months old...My arms were tired!

She FINALLY agreed to Potty Train
just so she could start

BALLET!!!

At three and a half years old, she began lessons at
Kasia Cultural Arts Academy in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

She LOVED it from the start...
such a graceful little doll.

Here she is in costume as one of the
"Village Children"
for her first performance:

PINOCCHIO
in May of 2003
This was the costume for the "Jazz" section of
the recital...They danced to "Buttercup"





Here's the costume for the May 2004 Performance of:
THUMBELINA
This was actually Mother's Day at the beautiful
graduated assisted living community where
Grammy and Pappy live.... As their gift,
Scooter and Tilly danced for Grammy
while Daddy played the piano.
This is a regular event...
(the girls think that auditorium is theirs)
The Next year she decided to try...

TAP DANCING !!!
She did a patriotic duo with her teacher,
it was wonderful.

She was also the TITLE Character in:

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
I was SO impressed that she was able to make a
SOLO entrance, in front of the curtain...
Even though I watched her practice this for months,
I got so choked-up watching her.
She had such poise and knew her dances so well.
This was May 2005
She was only SIX years old.
She amazes me

The following year, 2006, she continued at Kasia...
"Miss Catherine" who ran the school was so kind,
Scooter loved her very much.
She got her start at Kasia Cultural Arts...
The Ballet that year was:

The Littlest Angel
My dancer did her part Beautifully

In 2006-2007
Scooter decided to try Gymnastics...
She loved it and they would have pushed her...
I wasn't into "competitive gymnastics".
This was our Mother's Day photo in 2007...
Notice the Ballet Pose...
You can take the child out of dance class,
but you can't make her stop performing!

I just noticed Tilly and Snorkie are doing a cute little pose, too!



She came back to Ballet for 2007-2008.
Kasia was now closed.
Miss Catherine passed away in August of '07.
We signed up with
The American Repertory Ballet's
Princeton Ballet School.

Awesome school...Live pianists in Every class...
very Classical...very formal.

She had a Three Hour Audition to try out for
the ARB's Holiday performances of:

The Nutcracker!
She was cast as one of the children at the party...
She was on stage for 20 minutes of the first act and had
four different dances to learn...plus some acting!
She was in four performances.
I have no photos of her in costume...
This was a free photo of Scooter with the girl who played
"Marie" and the young Man who played the "Nutcracker"
in the First of two performances at the State Theatre
in New Brunswick, NJ on 22 December 2007.
(notice she looks tired...we had to be at the theatre by 9am)
She had another show to do that night, we got home LATE!

My Ballerina Doll finished the year with the school's recital...
a Two and a Half Hour, Three act production of:

Don Quixote
The children in her level at the Princeton school played
little Spanish Princes and Princesses.
She was in the third act...

Snorkie liked it but kept asking, "the END?"
Eventually the end came and the applause was strong.
She had a marvelous time.


This is My Scooter (right)
with her best "bud" and possible twin (SF)...
after the dress rehearsal.


Next year Scooter and Tilly are going to try:



Horse Back Riding!