Dance, Music, and Arts

The arrival of June can mean a variety of things, but for us it now means that the time has come for the annual dance recital.  This year was a special one because Reese was going to make her debut on the Lexington Opera House stage.  And although she was a little timid during rehearsals, all signs indicated that she was ready to embrace her big moment.

Somehow Callie worked her way into Reese's class's dance number over the past five months by assisting Miss Lauren.  In the days leading up to the recital there was talk that Callie would lead the crew on stage as well.  Callie didn't get called up until the very last moment, but she was excited to be a part of the Bunny Rabbit Blues dance.  Reese loved having her big sister on hand, but she also clearly loved the spotlight.  It is going to be hard keeping her off the stage in the years to come.

This was Callie's third recital, so she has become accustomed to all that goes along with it.  And we certainly had no concerns about her willingness to do everything she needed to do.  This was a big deal because John was out of town for the recital which meant Sarah had to get both girls ready and had to manage all of the make-up and costume changes.  Thankfully, Grammy was there to assist or it could have been a disaster.

Here is Callie's class getting ready to go on for their "I See the Moon" dance.  It is amazing how much these girls have grown in the three years they have been in dance classes together.  Clearly they get along quite well.



This year's special someone dance was (to the surprise of no parent of a girl between the ages of 3 and 12) based around a song from the movie Frozen.  Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

The girls loved getting to wear their colorful winter gear for this dance in the middle of summer.  Callie got to have Grammy as her special someone and Reese got to do it with Sarah.  It is also important to note that Sarah was selected to be the parent line leader, which is an honor she took quite seriously.

And here are the girls with the woman who has made their dance class experience so wonderful.  Miss Lauren is the greatest teacher we could have asked for, especially when Callie was first starting out.  And as we have mentioned before, Reese would settle for nothing less than a class with Miss Lauren.  The girls know excellence when they see it - they also know a warm and gentle soul.

Dance recital week always seems to fall on the same week as Music and Arts Camp at church, which means there is a whole lot of singing, dancing, and commuting during that time.  Once again, Grammy saved the day and Reese made her big debut.  And like Callie's debut at Music and Arts Camp, we have very few pictures to document it.  But she claims she enjoyed the week.  The theme this year was Moses and the Freedom Fanatics.  Callie is pictured here with the bugs so artfully drawn by Caitlin.

Out of the performances we have seen over the past four years, this by far was the best.  Everyone seemed to know the songs and sang them passionately.  In this picture Callie is there along with her fellow slaves demanding freedom from Pharaoh.  Reese was a frog in the production that focused on the animal plagues as opposed to the rivers of blood.

This week was a tough one for Reese's ability to pull out the beaming smile she is more well known for.  Such is life.  We have all had weeks like that.  And truly, by the time Friday afternoon arrived the girls were exhausted and were ready to take a break from the rigors of the performing arts.