This was the weekend of Laura's Dance School's show at the Parr Hall Theatre in Warrington. They've been practising for months and there were 2 performances, yesterday and today - afternoons. Yesterday Laura's dad and his parents went to watch the show and took her cousin, her dad's sister's little girl, who is 6. Nik and I went this afternoon.
Laura was in 2 acts as she's in Grade 2 ballet and Grade 3 Modern Jazz. She was deposited at the theatre dressing rooms made up ("D'you think I've got enough mascara on, Nana?") and hair scraped back and rock hard with hair-spray - it just makes a bun, she had it cut short last Summer). We knew she wasn't on until after the interval and that it was "Princess Leia" for ballet and "Black and Gold" for Modern but we weren't allowed to see any steps or moves - she doesn't practise at home.
The first half had all the tiny ones. It's over 6 years since Laura was the "Aw" factor as a 3 year old Dwarf in a rendition of "Hi-Ho, It's Off To Work We Go", wandering round after the bigger girls and doing her actions. Now we had even younger ones. The Pre-school class, dressed as ladybirds, danced to "Ugly Bug Ball" and were so cute they brought tears to my eyes. Some were only 2 years old and a 14 year old girl stood at stage right directing them. They finished to rapturous applause.
I have to mention the boys too. About 10 boys appeared in the production (these are children who are all under 13) and, as ever, one stood out from the rest. He's not more than, I would say, 9 years old but every move was spot-on and he had a stage presence you couldn't miss. I know there is a boy in the Senior School (their performance was seperate - in the evenings) who is about 17 and just, well, fabulous and this little lad is going to be the same; you should have seen him doing the 'George Sampson' shoulder spins. All the boys were good, though, and I think it's great that boys want to dance. Nothing "cissy" about it, as some think - Gene Kelly was very masculine and he's a hero to my rock guitarist son.
Laura's ballet class opened Act 2. This was Princess Leia and they did the dance to the Star Wars theme. It was very good and I was amazed at how graceful Laura can be. She'll never be an ethereal ballerina but she does love ballet and she's good at it. Her next dance was number 3 in Act 2 so it was a case of very quick change from a tan dress to her black leotard, a black and gold sequined skirt, matching gold sequined tie and one black lace glove and one gold one. The "Modern" routine was superb. Laura performed moves neither her mother nor I knew she could do and she's one who puts everything she has into her dancing. A great success all round and I'm so proud of my granddaughter.
Laura was in 2 acts as she's in Grade 2 ballet and Grade 3 Modern Jazz. She was deposited at the theatre dressing rooms made up ("D'you think I've got enough mascara on, Nana?") and hair scraped back and rock hard with hair-spray - it just makes a bun, she had it cut short last Summer). We knew she wasn't on until after the interval and that it was "Princess Leia" for ballet and "Black and Gold" for Modern but we weren't allowed to see any steps or moves - she doesn't practise at home.
The first half had all the tiny ones. It's over 6 years since Laura was the "Aw" factor as a 3 year old Dwarf in a rendition of "Hi-Ho, It's Off To Work We Go", wandering round after the bigger girls and doing her actions. Now we had even younger ones. The Pre-school class, dressed as ladybirds, danced to "Ugly Bug Ball" and were so cute they brought tears to my eyes. Some were only 2 years old and a 14 year old girl stood at stage right directing them. They finished to rapturous applause.
I have to mention the boys too. About 10 boys appeared in the production (these are children who are all under 13) and, as ever, one stood out from the rest. He's not more than, I would say, 9 years old but every move was spot-on and he had a stage presence you couldn't miss. I know there is a boy in the Senior School (their performance was seperate - in the evenings) who is about 17 and just, well, fabulous and this little lad is going to be the same; you should have seen him doing the 'George Sampson' shoulder spins. All the boys were good, though, and I think it's great that boys want to dance. Nothing "cissy" about it, as some think - Gene Kelly was very masculine and he's a hero to my rock guitarist son.
Laura's ballet class opened Act 2. This was Princess Leia and they did the dance to the Star Wars theme. It was very good and I was amazed at how graceful Laura can be. She'll never be an ethereal ballerina but she does love ballet and she's good at it. Her next dance was number 3 in Act 2 so it was a case of very quick change from a tan dress to her black leotard, a black and gold sequined skirt, matching gold sequined tie and one black lace glove and one gold one. The "Modern" routine was superb. Laura performed moves neither her mother nor I knew she could do and she's one who puts everything she has into her dancing. A great success all round and I'm so proud of my granddaughter.
