Flexible Janine

Yesterday was the parents' observation day at Janine's ballet class. After a 15 minute warm-up we all got to watch the girls as they practiced their positions, steps and moves at the barre. This photo shows Janine's favorite part. How did she get that way? By imitating her mother and older sister, that's how.

Then the girls paired up to perform a scene from the Nutcracker in which Clara dances with her Christmas gift. For Janine's performance, click here. My apologies for the resolution. I shot the video using the digital camera in low light. (Hint: Janine is in white.)

We all took it easy yesterday after a weekend full of Nutcracker performances. Here's the recap:

Bobbie- Mom in Party Scene, corps de ballet in Waltz of the Flowers, Mouse kids teacher and supervisor

Sarah- Clara's friend in Party Scene, Angel corps de ballet for the Sugar Plum Fairy, Candy Cane for the Russian Dance.

John- He dug deep into his personal experience playing Fritz, Clara's little brother who breaks the Nutcracker in the Party Scene. Then John made a quick costume change to become a soldier in the next scene, the mouse battle.

Janine- was in also in the party scene and made the change to become a soldier with her brother.

Dad- Helped lay down the Marley dance surface, built a Christmas tree platform (The stand broke and was finally fixed only 10 minutes before curtain after three trips to Home Depot.) ran the video camera, and struck the set Sunday night.

Needless to say, we all slept in Monday morning.