Recital Rehearsal

Today we were at the ballet rehearsal one more time, once again at Pearce Auditorium.  The costumes are just amazing, these little bellhop costumes and these tiny trumpets.  The song they're doing a jazz dance to is "Little Bugle Boy."

Madison likes the costume because it makes her look like a bellhop at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  This is obviously what the costume designer was thinking, right?  No, probably not.  But nevertheless, we're keeping the costume for this October, and who knows?  We might add a bit of a pale zombie look to her skin, and make her a ghastly bellhop!

Of course, she was anything but ghastly today.  She was having a blast with the other girls - there are twelve of them doing their choreography, and by the looks of things, it's all going to be a great show tomorrow.  They did their routine slowly at first, sort of blocking things out, and then they did it twice at regular speed, and set to music.

Daddy was taking pictures upstairs in the balcony again, but also downstairs as well.  The parents are welcome to take pictures on this day, but obviously not tomorrow during the recital.

Yes, one last recital.  It is literally her last event with the Gainesville Ballet, her last time with the other dancers and teachers.  It's all her choice, and she's ready to move on, as documented here.  We haven't brought it up at all, just sort of going through things today.  

We don't know who will be more upset about it all, her or us.  We're really just as sad to see it all go, as it sort of represents a very big chapter in her life.  And a new chapter is starting soon as well, but at the same time, we hate seeing this one go.  

Of course, our wallets will be thanking us!  Also, the amount of time at practice next year was going to be intense.  But we'd do it all for her if she wanted.  She just recently said that it would be very stressful to her if she continued, and that was that.  Of course, she didn't look stressed here at all.

She had a great time, and was doing a lot of talking with her friends on stage there.  She is online with them with certain apps, and they talk outside of ballet.  A few are coming to her birthday party upcoming as well.

Daddy snapped a lot more pictures than these, but they came out well.  We shared some of them with the other parents, who were appreciative.  We also paid for a professional portrait, so just before the routine, Madison was in "The Black Box" to pose for a few pictures.  We'll get that hopefully in a few weeks - those pictures usually come out really well.  Perhaps we'll find a "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" frame to put it in!

The great thing about this routine is that everyone has a chance to shine.  When asked which she likes better, currently Madison likes the ballet a bit better.  But she really likes jazz too, especially these costumes!

We were there today for about two and a half hours or so, because there was another dance routine Madison had to practice.  You'll see those pictures tomorrow, as there are already so many on this days' posting.

You can see the back of their dance instructor in this picture.  She's known Madison a few years now, and has always been good with the kids.  She's very punctual as well!  Madison looks like she's about to crack up here in this photo.

Ah, the bugles!  Sadly, we didn't have these for the official portrait.  But we got plenty of pictures of the kids with these props.  Of course, they're not really musical instruments.  But occasionally, the kids would pretend like they were playing, and it really goes with the song.

How funny that it's a song from the 1940's.  This is what Madison has been studying a lot of this year, so it's great to see a little extension of that with her dancing as well.  Madison does really well with dance:  she has moments of sublime grace, although there are also moments of clunky mechanics as well.  At least that was this afternoon.  All the kids are just about done getting their choreography together.

Madison was doing well, as were all the other girls.  The other routine... not so much.  The other routine you'll see the photos for tomorrow, but that one took a while to sort of block out once again.  It was a longer effort, with a whole lot of cleaning up.  But Madison does well with memorizing things, so she wasn't necessarily the source of the slowdown.  It's just that tomorrow is the big day, and everything is going to be just right.

But for parents, today was just right too.  It was neat seeing the kids in their costumes on the stage, and dancing to their routines.  Parents were scattered in the audience with cameras and cell phones, recording or taking photos of their little girls on stage.  

There was a lot to be proud of!  

After ballet, we stopped by the Race Trac to get something to drink, and a few taquitos as well.  Madison's reward for a good day of dancing:  taquitos.  She's fine with that!  But the surprise was the stop at home, and the sound of an ice cream truck in the neighborhood.  We dashed out, and got our selves some delicious ice creams, all of us!

The rest of the day was spent talking about ancestry (Mommy and her parents), and some video games, and then the next book in "A Series of Unfortunate Events."  We all went to bed early tonight, because it was a full day.  But tomorrow looks to be fuller - it's going to be amazing!