TBT Senior Recital

Saturday, June 11th was the Texas Ballet Theater Dallas School's annual senior recital.  Katharine and I left home shortly after 8 and did not return home until almost 10:30 that night. The young dancers had dress rehearsal and  two hour performance on the same day. This year the recital was at the McFarlin Auditorium, the theater of SMU (Southern Methodist University) which is located in an older part of the city of Dallas and has a very nice campus. Katharine was in a total of 13 dances, and today, two days later, the fatigue has finally set  in. All the pictures below were taken at dress rehearsal. They are not in program order, but rehearsal order. I thoroughly enjoyed watching dress rehearsal. It gives you such an insight into the production and you  see how everything finally comes together. 

 Footloose - Tap

 This year was Katharine's last year of tap as she moved up to a higher level ballet class on Saturdays and there won't be any time for tap. I know her tap teacher will miss her!

Nothing but Soul - Jazz

 Asturias - Modern

 Radio Tune - Jazz

 Parisienne - Ballet

Finale rehearsal talk from the wings

 Finale - Ballet/ Pointe

 Broadway Waltz - Ballet

 Edge of Misery - Modern

 Patria der Alma - Modern

War - Contemporary

This is an almost 10 minute long dance, Katharine had a costume change during the dance. The teacher combined two classes for this dance. Katharine was in both classes, so she got to be in the entire dance. The picture above shows the girls chatting before run through of the dance. 

Facade - Ballet/Pointe

Merce Cunningham once said " You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing bat that single fleeting moment when you feel alive." - Seeing Katharine give it her all in all those dances shows so much on her face. She doesn't just dance with her body, but with her heart and soul. Here is what one of the younger girls' mom sent in an email to me today: "Katharine was so fabulous! I love how she is kind and patient no matter how crazy stressful the show must be. It make her stage presence so much more impressive." 

Schools Out

Building, reading, and lounging.

Fairy Gardens

The kids and I made our first fairy gardens. One for indoor and one for outdoor. Only the fairies are missing. We should have some chia growing in those gardens soon along with clary sage and some more borage.








Here are some of our seedlings from our herb garden:



Calendula


Chickweed - great for scrapes, warts and pink eye when used as a poultice.


Borage

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Sunday Afternoon

Lennon had soccer practice, Katharine went to a pool party with her ballet friends, and Kassidy, Keira, Lukas and I went to the Dallas Zoo for a little bit.













That is a momma chimp with her baby in that tree. She was about 15-20 feet up in that tree.


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Traffic Jam

Toys come and go, but the cars are here to stay (along with her slowly disintegrating blanky seen at the upper left).

Last Day of School

Today was officially the last day of school, but....




Heading out the door for the last time of the school year.

They didn't come home with a bunch of awards ( well, Keira got the writers award and Kassidy got her Kindergarten certificate), but here are a few of my thoughts:
Kassidy started the school year with a very significant speech delay. She received speech therapy as well as help in Math and reading and writing. When I look back where she was at the beginning of the school year and where she is at now, I can only say she has been climbing steadily up the hill towards the top. She is not quite there yet, but to see the progress she has made makes me happy and proud of her!
Keira's report card was great! She is performing at or above grade level in everything and shows great skills in writing. Her teacher has had only praised for her! She literally said "You have no idea what a blessing she was to me. She is an amazing young lady!!" That is better than any awards!
Both girls will miss their teachers Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Ratliff! They have made a difference in their lives.


Meanwhile the older 3 went on another field trip to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.


Working on drawing a mountain goat and giant tube worms.


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Eye of the Collector II

This post is a multi part post. I just can't seem to post all the pictures from my phone. First world problem, I know.




From a doll collection





Star Wars collection


Bikes from the 50s





Ballet Folcloríco costumes


Ballerina spinning top


The Beatles


Detail on a pistol



And we also learned about wind turbines, gemstones and minerals and how raw oil is refined.



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Eye of the Collector I

920 PEZ dispensers on display among other small private collections as part of a special exhibit at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.











All the presidents as PEZ dispensers.











A necklace made out of lactic bags.


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