That Time of Year

It's that time of year when the dance studios have their photo sessions. As usual, I don't see the need to buy pictures of my girls, even though I would love to cover my house with pictures of them everywhere, I have to draw a line somewhere! I always use the time to make sure their costumes are ready for dress rehearsal and to take my own, far from professional, photos.

Victoria is still with Dancing Feet and has come a long way with her tapping. Her ballet has improved greatly too, mostly due to the Cecchetti ballet she is required to take (really strict, traditional ballet where they are tested at the end of the year). She wasn't sure she wanted to do the Cecchetti. It is in addition to their regular ballet class, but I think she can feel the difference in her dancing because of the discipline it requires.

All the years we have been going, this is the first year they let me watch and I snapped this pic of her with her classmates. She's standing in the middle.

The theme of the recital this year is holidays and seasons. They got Halloween and Christmas. 

Her classes are at the Summit, where they have a beautiful banquet room that we always snap our own pictures in afterwards. 

This year, Karissa went with a different dance company. Last year was gymnastics for her with some dance classes there, which they don't offer anymore. So, we thought we'd try dancing through the school district. It's less money, less intense, a little more relaxed, and still great and lots of fun! Personally, I don't think the dancers are as good as they are at Dancing Feet, but I haven't been to the recital yet. I base that on the fact that Karissa's class is 8-10 year-olds, and they aren't half as good as the 10-year-olds in Victoria's class. But, it's perfect for Karissa and she really does like it there, so I do too! I don't care how good it is, as long as they enjoy it. One thing she realized, though, when she put on her costume for pictures, was that it is still itchy! One of the main reasons she decided not to stay with Dancing Feet is because the costumes are too itchy! I told her that will never change no matter where she goes!

The middle school where her dance is at doesn't have a beautiful room with great lighting and it was too cold outside, but she still looks lovely!

Relaxing before the group shot is taken. 

Finally, we had a ward talent show last weekend. I thought I would try to get some dancers to show off their dancing talents, without trying to choreograph something for them this time. There are too many levels and it was hard to put them together. Instead, I emailed everyone to see which kids were interested. Besides my three (yes, Austin included), only one other person was. I had Austin lip-syncing to the Happy Song and doing his thing and the dancers come in at separate times to do parts of their recital dances. It turned out great! Unfortunately, Erik wanted to help video tape, but I couldn't let him since I had to hold the camera up really high to avoid the big speaker in the way. If you want to take a peek and risk getting dizzy by all the movement, here's the link: http://youtu.be/YhidL3FZY-8. Jason makes a surprise entrance at the end!