Clio's first ballet recital, June 20th 2009

Dana, Stephen and I had a great time at Cliona's ballet recital. The whole dance school (http://www.bcdjourney.com/) participates in the show so Cliona's class was one of the youngest. The show was held in the Redondo beach performing arts center and I think the stage was bigger than our house - seriously! There are only 4 girls in her class so they did look very small up on the stage.

I admit I didn't quite know what I was letting myself in for when I signed Clio up for ballet classes in January. I never did dance as a child so it was all new to me. And Clio was really into the idea of doing ballet, the tutu, the music, the whole lot.

Well, to start, the show is a big deal. Costumes were ordered and paid for in January. The children started to learn their routine back in April. One of the fun parts of Cliona doing ballet is that I get to sit and watch the 4 cutest 4 yr old's do their thing for an hour every Wednesday morning. They are just great - really try hard and come out with the funniest stuff! But back to the show .... so at the beginning of June, things really start to heat up. Costumes have arrived and are distributed. A photo day is scheduled when all 4 dancers show up in their costume for their class picture. Unfortunately that coincided with Stephen's mud run so we had to miss cheering him on. But we had fun getting Cliona all dressed up in her costume. Then the day before the show, there is a full dress rehearsal in the performing arts center. Hair, make-up, the whole bit. Yes - I learned to make a ballerina bun. And then the big day arrived!

Dana came down to help get Clio ready. She put on Cliona's make-up and then Clio put on Dana's make-up. Lucky Aunt Dana!! Clio had been bouncing off the walls all morning, waiting for Dana to arrive. She was so happy to have her Aunt Dana come get her ready for her performance.

Then the costume went on and after a few photos it was time to go. We were told to drop off Cliona at the stage door 1 hour before show-time. The dancers were entertained with crafts backstage and got to see the show on a few tv screens . Cliona was happy enough to be dropped off - her buddy Ella was already there so she had some-one to play with.

It was time for us to find our seats! There was all kinds of stuff for sale - flower for the dancers, dvd's of the show, dance-o-grams (postcards you write a message on and it's given to your child backstage). I passed on all of that - I mean, she's only 4. She can't even read! Luckily the programs were free so we could see where Cliona was in the line-up. The show was over 2 hours long! Cliona was right before the intermission and was fantastic. (CLIONA'S BALLET RECITAL). She remembered all her moves, even had time to have a look for us in the audience. In retrospect I probably should not have told her where we were sitting - she kept looking straight at us but afterwards said she couldn't see anyone. She did the whole routine really well but the minute the applause began, she jumped up and ran offstage. Too funny!! I'm not sure what spooked her - she's not crazy about being the center of attention so maybe that was it. She seemed to enjoy herself otherwise and was the star of the show to us!

Afterwards we all went out for burgers and milk-shakes! Mmmm ... strawberry milkshakes - another first for Cliona. She loved it, of course.

The next day was Fathers day - or should I say is Fathers day. Cliona woke Stephen up with his card and we made him a yummy pancake breakfast. We had decided to clean out the garage - kind of a Fathers day present because now it's nice and tidy so Stephen can go out and have plenty of room to play music. We also went down to beach and played in the waves. Stephen got a quick v-ball game in before it was time to head home and decorate the strawberry cake Clio made him.

All ballet photos are HERE