Bella's Ballet Recital

Bella had her first ballet recital.  She loved every minute of dancing on stage and still asks to go do it again.  In fact, a couple of weeks ago we drove by the theatre they danced at, and she said, "I want to go dance on stage"  We were surprised she recognized the building.  She was definitely born to perform.

On the other hand, I was really disappointed with the way this dance studio put on the show.  First, you pay a performance fee and a costume rental fee.  So, instead of getting a cute little costume that she can play dress up in for the next few years, and that hangs in her closet to remember her first recital, she only got to wear the costume on stage.  And, I only have pictures of her in one of the outfits from backstage, which means no pictures of her outside or with us all dressed up.  LAME!  And, the costumes weren't anything spectacular, just really basic.  A pink leotard and a long tutu for the ballet portion, and a short tutu and butterfly wings for the tap performance.  Also, they put the smaller kids in the back, so Bella was in the fifth row on stage.  I don't know if they did it so the little kids can watch the big kids so they don't mess up.  I don't care if she messed up, the whole point is to see the little kids be all cute and try to dance, not trying to see past six, five, and four year olds to see your three year old.  And she was on for less than two minutes, and that includes both dances.  They did the little kids and then had the bigger kids finish the dance.  I guess I am really venting, but if I had know all of that before, I would have found a different place to take her, but by the time the performace time came, Bella had already been in for five or six months, so it was too late to really do anything about it.

I switched her to the ballet studio on base now, which is a little less a month, but they don't charge a performance fee.  You buy the costume and that's it, they don't even charge for tickets.  The new teacher is really nice and fun, but I did like her old teacher better.  But overall, I think it will be better and I am really excited for her recital this December!!!  Anyway, if anyone is still reading my vent session and has made it this far, here are a few pics from her first ballet recital.

Warming up before going on stage

playing ring around the rosies with her friends Kayla and Genevieve

hugging Genevieve

So sad that it is over and we have to go home.  She was really heartbroken that she wasn't going to dance on stage anymore!