You can iron a tutu? Who knew?

Yesterday I found out that you can starch and iron the netting on a tutu. This I didn't know. I imagined it would just shrivel up and burn.

Now the tutu Blossom has borrowed for this year's Eisteddfod will have the appropriate amount of perkiness and bounce.

Not to mention the shimmer and the sparkle.

The week that ended well

While last week started so heavily, mourning the loss of a friend, it ended well with a lot to smile about.

I loved seeing the kids' term science projects on display. Blossom's straw bridge she designed and constructed with her friend took out the Best Design prize. PL's term project was to build a water tower out of as few pieces of A4 paper as possible. The tower had to support a full water balloon. PL's team built one out of four pieces.

I loved watching the Year 1 & 2 end of year concert. PL's class showed everything they had learnt about The Netherlands this term via two dances. What's not to love about 24 year twos performing a clog dance!

We were proud of Blossom as she received the class award for Outstanding Progress at Presentation Day.

I never tire of the inside of the Sydney Opera House. It takes my breath away every time. We saw the most fabulous production of the ballet "Manon" here on Saturday afternoon.

And I finally posted my Christmas cards.

La Bayadere

Last night Blossom's ballet school held their concert. It's a showcase of ballet, Jazz and Contemporary from grades K-12. The day is a marathon effort. We arrived at the theatre at 1.30pm (I was on hair duty), the show went on at 6.30pm and we finally arrived home at 10pm.

This year's ballet was La Bayadere - a ballet that is spookily, given very recent events, set in India. The production was very Bollywood in parts. This year's production was big on technique and really showcased the vocational students well. Blossom's class played harem dancers.

Special credit must go to Padawan Learner. He woke up with a fever yesterday so I had to take him to the theatre with me rather than send him to school and afterschool care. He was fabulous sitting there for five hours while I did hair and another three hours through the performance. He didn't complain once despite the frilly, mostly girly, surrounds and despite not feeling the best.

So, that's it. Ballet is over for another year. We have our Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays back again. Yay, slow starts on Saturdays...

Idol Fans Looky Here

So we were on our way to watch the Aussie Ballet at yesterday's matinee.

When we noticed that the stages were all set up for the Australian Idol final outside the Opera House.

Look who was doing her sound check. Last year's runner up, Jess Mauboy.

She sounded fabulous. The girls were thrilled. Then we hotfooted it into the House for our 1.30pm start time to see the Aussie Ballet perform Interplay.

The Idol final is on tonight. There's no way we'd even attempt to cross the harbour for the craziness. We'll hear all the commotion from our house and we'll be looking out for the fireworks.

How you can tell it's ballet concert season

It's ballet concert season.

How can you tell?

Because on Sunday morning while dropping of our kids at ballet rehearsal all able-bodied parents who have ever put a thread through a needle were co-opted to hand sew tutu layers together so that they (the tutus) sit flat like a pancake (rather than - as it was described to us - 'like a duck's bum").

This involved tacking each layer of the tutu to each other layer. Each tutu has 4-6 layers. And there were 18 tutus.

Three tutus took me 2 1/2 hours. Luckily the company was great, but I think my eyesight is shot!

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IMPOSSIBLE PRINCESS!

Friday 17 October: Ballet Exam 2008

This was a day and a half. I had just learned that a friend had died, it was Dad's birthday and I hadn't finished his gift, and Blossom had her ballet exam.

Blossom took the day off school, we went to the markets in the morning and in the afternoon we headed up to the ballet school to get ready.

The hair was done
(apart from gluing up the wispy bits, which I did just before she walked in).

The ribbon was attached.

(this differentiates her from the pink girl, or the white girl, or the yellow girl)

The shoe ribbons were tied. And re-tied. And then checked again.

She was ready to go in.

Blossom said the examiner was friendly but she wasn't sure it was her best exam.
Despite all the hairspray on the shoe ribbons, they still came loose.
But that's all part of being a dancer and the show must go on.

Now we are all about the end of year concert. And Grade 5 next year.

08.08.08 was Eisteddfod Day in our house

While the Beijing Olympics may have been on your mind yesterday, the Sydney Eisteddfod was on Blossom's.

After six months of preparation Blossom finally performed her classical routine yesterday afternoon, along with forty other 10 year olds.

She was, of course, beautiful in her pale pink tutu and borrowed tiara.

I am pleased to say that this year's Eisteddfod was more relaxed than last year's with the girls performing fewer tricks (steps beyond the normal training for a 10yo) and less dramatic make-up being worn.

There was, however, just enough of the over-dressed girls to keep me entertained. What's the fun of an afternoon out if you don't see a 10yo in false eyelashes and lashings of eyeliner at 3pm performing multiple pirouettes?

Froth & Bubble: hair gel and diamantes at 10am

The Australian Ballet School, which is based in Victoria, does an annual tour of most capital cities at which time they conduct auditions and open.to.anyone masterclasses. Blossom went along to a masterclass for 10 year old girls and boys this week. I wanted her to see what was happening in ballet outside the confines of her own ballet school. She attends a ballet school in an area where by and large there are few 'stage mothers' and the girls and boys are friendly and, well, normal.

After the masterclass Blossom was full of smiles. It was fun, she said. Our teacher was really nice, she said. Phew, because when we first arrived and saw the other girls she was about to share a class with Blossom had a small anxiety attack:

Blossom: I'm not going in
Mum: Why?
Blossom: I'm the only one not wearing hair gel and diamantes
Mum: No, you are wearing a practise bun. Hair gel and diamantes aren't required at 10am in the morning.
Blossom: The girls look mean.
Mum: They can't help it, their faces are contorted by a too-tight bun and hair gel [seriously, you can give yourself a face lift with that stuff].

Now, I can do a fair job with ballet hair and I think that neat hair for ballet shows respect for the art. I help out with hair during ballet exam week and for the end of year concert. I am a dab hand with hair gel and all manner of hair accessories. But at 10am in the morning that stuff is just not required.

To calm Blossom down we looked around to see if we could find any girls that looked friendly. After counting four or five near us she relaxed. The friendly-looking ones, incidentally, wore their hair in a practise bun and they didn't prance around pirouetting or doing the splits.

Blossom is going to encounter the over-gelled Lolitas at every ballet event she attends from now on. I'm glad she's getting a handle on it and I hope she realises that the froth and bubble doesn't equal performance.

Concert

On Thursday evening KelpieBlossom went to bed with us believing that she would not be able to perform in her annual ballet concert the next day. During the week she had been diagnosed first with Colic and then late on Thursday with a UT infection. Dr said if it was UT infection then it would clear up overnight. The concert is a big deal in KB's mind and she was fretting.

Yesterday morning KB woke up, ran into our room shouting "I feel better, my tummy doesn't hurt at all" and proceeded to dance around the house. Um, okay, so I think the concert is back on.

We arrived at the theatre at 1.30pm for KB's rehearsals and for me to help out with hair and make-up. The rehearsals seemed never-ending, the hair went smoothly and the make-up totally freaked me out (I'd never done stage makeup before. 10 mins before curtain up we still had 15 6 year olds to do).

I finally joined Firegazer and our other guests just in time for the show to start at 6.30pm. It was beautiful. This year the Grades students were showcased in a progression from Primary to Grade 6 as well as a spectacular display of Russian National Dance and fabulous Jazz & Modern numbers. The finale was the entire ensemble in a Christmas inspired number with music from The Nutcracker.

The only disappointing part of the evening was that the vocational students were not showcased to the extent they normally are. There was only one number 'en pointe' when usually there are several.

I had intended to take candid shots of backstage activity throughout the evening but it was all too frantic. I have no pics of KB in her stunning lilac grades costume but here are pics of KelpieBlossom in her Nutcracker costume.

This morning we are enjoying our first lazy Saturday in quite a long while.

Apprentice Assistant Deputy Trim Director

You may remember a couple of posts ago that I was sewing 30 metres of ribbon trim to go on costumes for KelpieBlossom's annual ballet concert. With that task complete (thanks Domestic Goddess for your help) I was elevated to Apprentice Assistant Deputy Trim Director at the ballet concert sewing bees.

Since that time I have sewn gold buttons onto flight attendant costumes, gold beading onto lush velvet jackets and now at the pinnacle of my seamstress career: gold buttons sewn onto (fake) fur AND the making of those little loopy things to secure the buttons (what ARE they called?).

I'll have you know I made those loops from scratch using some sort of nifty crochet-type process I learnt this morning.

The ballet concert is tomorrow night. I just hope KelpieBlossom gets over her colic/UT infection, or whatever it is that is making her sick at the moment, so she can dance in the production she has practised over 30 hours for.

Update: KB woke up feeling fine on Friday morning ready for the concert. Report coming later.

Ballet Mum now Sews Costumes

One of the mums at our ballet school is a Bridal designer and she and another mum give up a month of paid work to design and direct the sewing of costumes for our annual concert. These are no hastily hashed together pieces but bridal quality garments (with the exception that fasteners are velcro rather than buttons and zips). One of these mums opens her house twice a week for mass sewing bees.

This Tuesday I went along to see if I could help in anyway thinking I might be given some gluing or perhaps simple hand-sewing. But no. When I realised that one volunteer who had never used a sewing machine before was assigned to one of the overlockers I knew that my gluing days were numbered.

I came home with the job above. Thirty metres of trim to make for the Russian National Dance costumes. The trim is black ribbon, sewn onto gold ribbon with gold lace trim sewn to each side. Thirty metres. I'm going cross-eyed, but isn't it beautiful!

How do I find the time? I don't know but with two fundraisers to focus on at school and all the usual gumf that goes on I definitely need a drink at the end of the day.