Return to the Stage!

The recital is over, yea! This studio has a great staff, volunteer group, and really cute, fun dancers. I often feel like an oddball there, but even so it's fun to be a part of a group. As promised, here's a tutu-full of pictures.

First, my costumes. The Mary Poppins-style dress is for the rehearsal scene, so I'm dressed athletically, for an 1880s working girl. The ruffled shirt is from the dance department closet. I sewed the black gored skirt without a pattern, with extra sections in the back to give me more leg extension space. The shoes are teacher's dancing slippers, in black instead of the typical pink, and without the usual elastic over the arch.

The formal dress is for the audition scene. As I'm sure I mentioned before, the Arvada Center theater department let me use this costume, all sewn from original patterns. The full get-up entails: tights, dress slip, corset, brassiere, bustle, underskirt, overskirt, jacket, and gloves. There are 7 support straps around my waist when all is done.

There isn't a good picture of my hair or make-up, hopefully in the video I'll post later you can see what I did with it. (these photos were taken after a run through, so I'm a bit sloppy)

Some performance shots: fairy elves, orphans, and sheep (the cutest)

Jonathan's a huge flirt, but I appreciated the fanning he gave me between my last scene and bows. That outfit is HOT!

Some of my favorite orphans I "audition." Claire on the left is hilarious, she almost cracked me up during the first night with her ad-libbing. Also, they're wearing the costumes I sewed. On the right are the butterflies, waiting for their turn.

More of Jonathan (he's omnipresent, and when I tried to take a casual photo, he made me wait until he tied his tie and put on the vest so he could pose). On the right are me and Jen, another older student, who played the nun running the orphanage. We're in the "big girl" dressing room.

Lining up for bows. I'm just showing off the cute costumes our company creates. Christina's anti-catalog costume because they're so cheaply made. The handmade costumes for their shows are all so personalized and detailed, I love them! Some of the high school girls I take class with are in the back of the 2nd and 3rd picture.

And that's it! Ben and his parents came to the Sunday matinee. They seemed to enjoy it, and I was happy to have someone in the audience. They gave me lovely flowers after the show (in addition to the two dozen roses Ben got me earlier, "just because") and then took us to dinner. It was a smooth performance run, and surprisingly I had less jitters than I used to.