ballet class observation day #2

it was c's turn to have me watch her ballet class this afternoon. of course we had a little drama beforehand as c forgot her ballet slippers AND her hair accessories (pins, clips, hairnet and elastics - ay yi yi!). however, the school ballet uniforms were finally in and i was able to purchase one in time for her to wear it during the class. so she was partially together! her teacher was very sweet and understanding about the lapse of proper attire. the girls just love this teacher. she sees what each one of them needs to work on and makes sure they all work properly, while maintaining their focus in class and having a sense of humor. yeah . . she is rather amazing! i have to agree with them . . i love her too and wish i could take her class! her name is deborah wingert and she used to dance with new york city ballet.

ballet class observation day #1

i was able to observe m's ballet class today. i had forgotten that this week was parent observation week and had dropped m off at her class and then ran off to pick up a few things at food emporium. luckily, i was just about to call g to ask him a toilet tissue supply question, when m's call came through saying that i must run immediately to 60th street! it was good i was reaching for my phone just as she was calling or i would never have heard my phone ring and would never had made it. i'd be blithefully roaming the food emporium aisles passing the time until class was over . . as it so happened, i was only a few minutes late! i guess i can still run pretty good . .

halloween at the ballet class

m cleaned up a pretty fairy skirt that k had made a few years ago for a halloween at her ballet school. she found a nice set of fairy wings that you can even dance in, and she was set. i didn't get to see her in the full costume as i was at third street for c's repertory class, so i'm glad g took a picture. let's see, i think the first young lady on the left is a chicken . . then comes my lavender fairy, then vampire ballerina, and finally spider ballerina.

waiting in the dressing room

c has been wearing five sweaters these past few days. waiting for her to get them all on, along with hat, scarf and mittens, can require a lot of patience from her sister and i. but as you can see, the effect is very sweet. c made the mittens herself, her friend made the scarf for her as a birthday gift, and the sweater i made several years ago for her sister. it was a morehouse merino kit. (c has reminded me that she is also wearing socks that she made with some lovely knitpicks yarn.) the hat is a hand me down from one of k's ballet friends. it's very popular in this family and c and k often fight over it . . hmmmm

dance concert at the manhattan youth ballet

m and c and i attended a ballet concert at the manhattan youth ballet. it wasn't very well publicized. we hadn't even received an email about it. but i found a piece of paper announcing it on a little cafe table in the company's building. so i decided we should go, and i'm glad we did because it was lovely! the third piece, of which this is a picture of, was called "pas de quatre" and was originally danced by four of the greatest ballerinas of 1845. each student portrayed one of the ballerinas with fittingly period gestures which looked quaint in our time and caused the audience to 'giggle" with delight. one of the students was made up as marie taglioni, and though her make-up caused her face to be a little stiff, she looked uncannily like the famous dancer!