Day Four-The Little Memaid

SHOW TIME for the Little Mermaid-
The dancers spent the morning with their host families. From what I heard, most of them slept in this morning, waking up at noon. Some had stayed up late the night before, visiting with their host families while others chose to hit the sack early. Tommy reported that he had 14 hours of sleep and felt great. An unidentified dancer reported that she went to bed at 5am but slept until 1 am. They looked rested and ready to perform. Sharon McCarthy arrived at the show in her new French haircut looking lovely! Just wait until Jim and the girls see her!
Heinrick warmed up the French and American dancers on the stage. They all gathered into a circle at the end and held hands. Together they walked to the middle of the circle and wished for a great show. It was wonderful to see them all together, preparing for the ballet. It was exciting to know, our kids were about ready to dance in France! I hope Bonny doesn’t mind, but I took her front row center seat for this show and I hope the dancers were happy to see a familiar face smiling at them throughout the show.
Before the doors opened, Rachel and Katie re-choreographed their swim up the Amazon. They were so cute working together and coming up with ideas. Erin and Tim practiced the near drowning scene one more time, as Tim had missed his cue during the dress rehearsal. All seemed ready for the show as everyone got into costumes. Suddenly Erin was in a panic, she had left one Pointe shoe at her host family's home. Fortunately Amelia had an extra pair that was too big for Erin. They added a few gel toe pads to the shoe and she danced in Seafoam! The magic was there for sure today. Seafoam was beautiful as always. The mermaid sisters each looked stunning as they danced. The French dancers joined Ariel on stage as White Fish and they really looked like a school of fish swimming around the mermaid. Elvers were as cute as ever dancing with Michelle. Each group of seahorses that brought gifts to Katie walked perfectly across the stage and sat quietly as during the mermaid dances. Surfacing was gorgeous with the arabesques all in unison. Katie danced her solo and she flowed so gracefully across the stage.
For the second act, the sailors were on board ship. Tim Bragg had made an awesome ship mast and helm. The lighting was great and it looked like the dancers were on board ship with the red sky warning of the impeding hurricane. The French hurricane dancers were outstanding! The kept their circle big and round, making it look like Katie and Erin were truly in the eye of the hurricane. Tim had rigged the ship mast fall, as if the whole ship was sinking-it was really cool!
The Amazon scene was next. The French dancers were spiders as Amelia (Inna) met Katie and Rachel to swim up the river. Their costumes were so cool with extra legs hanging below their arms. The butterflies and parrots were show pleasers as usual. Tommy and August jumped on stage and Brooke leaped into the scene. She was commanding as ever with her drama and a HISSSSSS at Katie when she looked her in the eye. Since we didn’t bring the potion table, two of the spiders were called into service and formed a table for Brooke to mix her magic potion on. You could feel the drama rising as Katie drank the potion and gained her legs.
What can I say about Ana and the Prince? Elizabeth was enchanting as the princess and Tim (clean shaven for the role!) was handsome. They danced beautifully together. Elizabeth’s extensions were lovely and she positively looked like a princess. Her dancing has come so far the past year! Tim and Elizabeth picnicked on French bread and wine, while swooning over one another! Katie danced the knife dance with passion and drama. She too had fantastic arabesques and extensions. One minor technical glitch happened at the end. The music for final seafoam started but it was the wrong music, it was for Finale. They finally got the correct music. While they figured out the music Katie did a great job acting like she was confused on the stage as she woke from her "dying". Once final Seafoam started the goose bumps began! I always love watching this part of Little Mermaid and I believe the audience did too.
The ballet was amazing today! The girls all looked so beautiful (and Tommy, August, Tim and Heinrick weren't too bad either!) Lee and I were in tears once again. I give Heinrick a lot of credit; he choreographed a wonderful, moving ballet. He seemed very happy with the show and proud of the dancers.
The French and American families gathered afterwards for pictures. There were camera flashes everywhere as families took pictures of the dancers with the French kids. Afterwards there was a cast party at the dance studio with bread, cheese, salads and desserts. The ballet was taped and we were able to watch it all over again! It was fun to listen to them complement each other or laugh at the mistakes they made.
Tomorrow we are off to the Chateaux’s. The bus leaves at 9:00 am so many of the kids need to be up bright and early (like 6:00 am) The French dancers are back in school tomorrow so I’m sure there will be some busy homes in the morning!
(I hope to catch up on Day Three on the bus tomorrow, if typing on the bus doesn’t make me sick!)
Diane
(Sorry still no pictures. :( I never realized how busy I would be and how late I’d be up working on the blog!)