Elise -- Ballet Performance 2008

Both of Elise's performance pieces were part of the mini-ballet, an act during the Intermediate Performance in which all of the dances are part of a larger story. This gives the dancers an opportunity to see what it's like to be in an actual ballet.

This year the mini-ballet was entitled "The Littlest Orphan," and it was loosely based on a Max Lucado story. Elise's first number was a fast-paced Hebrew song in which she and her classmates were minstrels doing a performance in the town square:


In her second number, Elise was part of a group of dancing angels who appear to the Littlest Orphan in her dream.

As the Angel Dance ended, Elise went over and "kissed" the sleeping orphan:



Elise was excited to have her cousins, Rachel and Sarah, at her performance. I love this picture because you can see Gordon and the boy cousins, Matthew and Ryan, being rowdy in the background! A big "thank you" to all the family who came to watch the girls -- it was a BIG sacrifice of time, and I know they appreciated it very much!


And as I did with Claire, Elise and I had fun with a little photo shoot in the front yard. She cracked me up whenever a car would drive by -- she would hold her pose and her smile, while muttering through clenched teeth, "How embarassing! There's another car!"