Rebecca Kelly Ballet day camp

If you've never heard the name "Rebecca Kelly Ballet", you should do yourself a favor and look it up online (www.rebeccakellyballet.com ). I signed both girls up for a week-long day dance camp this past week and last night (Friday) was the recital. It...was...AWEOME! Luci was in the youngest group called "Kids Co-Motion I" which was led by Rebecca Kelly's husband, Craig. Their group was for the 2-4 year olds and they didn't perform onstage at the recital, but they had tons of fun anyway. Here are a few shots of Luci during the week.

Here's Luci with Craig.

Luci's little group was more along the lines of a "Mommy and Me" type of playgroup. I certainly got in a workout everyday as parents were required to participate with their children. She loved it and still does the moves to her favorite dance. Drew's group, on the other hand, was completely different. It was a structured ballet group. The girls were required to wear their hair up and have pink tights and black leotards. The girls were expected to control their behavior and pay attention at all times. Now all this may seem a little much for a 6 year old, but when you see Drew's face in some of these shots, you'll realize that she enjoyed herself immensely! I watched the rehearsal everyday as the camp was 45 minutes from our house and I had to be there for Luci's group anyway, so I got the oppotunity to watch their progress. The instructors were VERY ambitious and after the first couple of days, I truly wondered how these girls would manage to remember HALF of their moves! I was amazed, no...awestruck at how beautiful the recital turned out to be! As Julie said, these girls learn more in 5 days than they do ALL YEAR at their local dance studio! Anyway, below, Drew is (as usual) the shortest one in the class so is in front. Hannah is much taller and was in the rear rows for most of the recital, so it was tough getting a clear shot of her dancing.

Hannah was chosen for this group (Drew was not in this group) who used hula hoops as a prop. The lighting onstage was rather dim for photography purposes, so most of the pics I got were rather blurry, but I managed to get this shot of Hannah while she was standing still twirling her hoop.

Drew was singled out (probably no doubt due to her size) for a small solo part which she is seen here performing. Drew has what I like to call the "Awww Factor". Now, I think my kid is gorgeous, but I also think most kids are. She's not any cuter or more beautiful than any other kid up there, but because she's so small, the instant she goes onstage, all we hear around us is "awww!" or "Isn't she the cutest?!!" or any other various comments along those lines. She loves the attention! (We taped the recital and I've asked Dean to convert it to digital so I can put part of it on the blog. When that will happen is entirely up in the air, but I promise to keep at him until he does. A digital camcorder is on my wishlist, but it currently sits pretty low on the priority list...as are most of things I'd really like....sigh...)

Drew's little group performed this number with their instructor.

This is the beaming smile she had on her face for most of the recital! She truly loves ballet which I absolutely love!! She has decided to give up figure skating for a year to see if she misses it or not. (I'm looking forward to not freezing my butt off twice a week!!)

Drew plays around with one of the instructors, Raul Peinado. I think some of the older girls were a bit smitten with him!

Here's a group shot of all the OnStage kids. These are the 6-12 year olds. Incidentally, there was another set of sisters who were adopted from China in this group as well. Laura is sitting in the front row, second from right and Ella is standing in the back row all the way on the right. Ella had a certain fondness for Drew and everytime they had a break, she either had Drew on her lap or was playing with her or holding her hand.

After the show, Hannah and Drew got some beautiful flowers! They are stars, after all!!

Drew poses with one of the instructors, Emily Sorelle Adams.

And with Raul Peinado.

With Therese Wendler.

And here's Hannah with all three of them.

Here's Drew with Rebecca Kelly herself.

I can't stress enough how wonderful this program is! We asked Drew if she wanted to do it again next year and she enthusiastically agreed! I can't wait!