Little Mermaid

Since the elections were held on the same Saturday that the girls’ dance studio had booked the theater, everything had to be re-scheduled for the Friday before. 

The studio owner had thought about doing it the following Saturday, but since Ramadan would have started by then, the performance would have been during the time of breaking fast. 

So...the day before the elections, we went to the girls’ end-of-year ballet performance in the large theater.  This hall was quite popular for election speeches and campaign rallies in the two weeks leading up to elections, so rehearsals that had been scheduled, got cancelled.  And even though rehearsals were re-scheduled, the dance studio was informed that they would get pushed aside at any moment if a government figure wanted to use the theater for his campaign.

So, what ended up happening is that we only had one practice two nights before the performance.  Even though it was a rough rehearsal, it all came together beautifully on Friday night. 

Kylie and Karis started out as jellyfish,

and then they were sea snakes that came out with Ursula,

 but since they changed into pearls before I ever saw them at the end of the night, Karis and her black lipstick was as close as I got to a picture of them as snakes.

 They were told by their teacher to look evil, and I thought they did a pretty good job (that's scary Karis in the front).

 

We also had a little chef who worked in the kitchen with her “French chef” teacher.   

Keira looked directly at my camera the entire song, and I asked her how she knew where we were in the audience, and she said that when she came out, she just looked row by row until she saw us.   

I have no idea how she did that with all of those lights, but I thought it was sweet.

The older girls were pearls for the second half of the show.

Here they are circling a short King Triton.  Kylie on right.  Karis on left.

Kylie and her co-teacher worked with the small 3- and 4-year olds for most of the year.  Her co-teacher was asked to help with drama in the spring, so about 2 months before the show, Karis became Kylie’s co-teacher.

 When the song “Kiss the Girl” came on, there was a lot going on on stage, but Kylie and Karis led their little cupids on stage, much to the delight of their parents.  With everything going on, they barely remembered their steps, but they were definitely a bright spot in the performance. 

The girls with their fan club.

Looking very tall en pointe.

 And finally...the performers.

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