Aidan's very first ballet recital...

Well, here are the recital pictures. She did a great job considering the amount of focus the ballet class required and the distraction from having an audience. We are really proud of Aidan's accomplishment over such a short time in the class. She really loves to dance and move to any kind of music, but ballet is definitely a difficult choice for such a young person. We'll keep it up for awhile longer and see how she grows into it. Here is how the recital went... The day started off well and Aidan was so excited to get on stage and dance. We had to be there an hour early and waiting tried Aidan's patience. You'll see her enthusiasm fade after the program starts.

Here she is showing off her outfit and a smile.

Standing in front of the Sicilian flag.

She was so excited and it was intensified with all the girls running around in their costumes.

Aidan doing butterfly hands.

Headed for the stage for some preshow dancing.

I just love her silly wrinkled nose when she smiles and laughs.

Here she is dancing with some of the other girls.

The feet are blurry, but it reminded me of the roadrunner... she never stops moving.

Here is a preview of her flowers before she saw them... Her teacher, Ms. Maria, bribed the kids with the idea that their parents would buy them flowers if they did a good job.

The curtain closed...

And the melodrama started.

She didn't want to stay on her spot for the recital... I got her to sit by giving her the camera. She took pictures of all the girls backs., the floor, and some extreme close-ups. I took the camera away as soon as the curtains opened.

Here she is actually following the choreography.

As you can see, some of the other little girls don't quite follow along either.

And when the audience clapped after they were done, Aidan got really excited.

Then the curtain closed again and she started with the crocodile tears again.

Here is the huddle of girls behind stage waiting for the finale. They look pretty annoyed too.

Some of the other girls wanted to take pictures too... they made me pose. Aidan's hand gesture means "good," or Buona, in Italian.

This expression definitely looks acted, but it was beautiful.

Here they are getting ready for the finale, dancing to Little Mermaid's "Under the Sea."

Again, she was not happy when I took the camera away when the curtain opened.

After it was all done, the girls gathered for group pictures.

Aidan just wanted to get off the stage.

Jason got to sit and watch the recital before heading back to shift.

They were both a little overwhelmed by the event.

Aidan loving on her flowers... she got to choose the colors a few days before the recital.

Her favorite color is yellow... and she was lucky enough to get that little yellow horse toy from her teacher.

The excitement is coming back. After the little party, she headed back to the stage. Ms. Maria asked her what she was doing and Aidan's reply was "I'm going to dance now." She never wants to dance until everyone else stops.

Here are her flowers once we got home. We put them on the table so that Aidan can see them all day. She calls them her ballet flowers.

The recital video is broken up into six parts, but it is only about eight minutes total. I don't know why the video camera won't upload it as a whole. Jason is also a bad cameraman, so forgive the jumpiness of the video and the few that are just seconds long. I hope you all enjoy.

Well, that is all for now. Until next time... Ciao.