Raccoon tails just aren't cute

Although I spent Saturday sewing costume pieces in the cold dimly lit basement at my kids' dance school, I don't have much to show for it... because honestly, raccoon tails just aren't very impressive.
But we put in a lot of hours and got a lot done... spider legs, afore-mentioned raccoon tails, cat ears, bat wings, etc. Sounds interesting doesn't it? Every year our dance instructor puts on a fabulous ballet - well, with tap and jazz dances too- that is story driven, meaning that the kids' dances tell a story. Last year it was about a french baker that lost his touch and was whisked off to the land of sweets by some cutie little sailors and the Sugar Fairy, where he was greeted by yummy goodies (wedding cakes, bon bons, cupcakes) and learned how to create wonderful treats. It was a bright and colorful show, and unfortunately my camera was being repaired at the time so I can only share the few pictures my sister took. Here's Alex and Gabby. Gabby was one of the sweet sailors (danced to Good Ship Lollipop) and Alex was one of the kids who made it clear that the baker's goodies were just not so good (danced to I Want Candy). The other dancers in Alex's class wore the same dress and spats just in different colors- blue, neon green, and hot pink. They also wore the dress (but without the spats) for their tap dance, which os Costume Moms made. (I joke that she looks like Super Banana!) For ballet they wore this.

Below is Hudson in his tap dance at the dress rehearsal. For the show he also wore a hat I made and the girls wore headbands with giant suckers attached. After the dress rehearsal I didn't like how his costume looked so I ran out the morning of the first performance and bought some material to make him a pair of white pants, and I taped his tap shoes with neon green duck tape...one of the perks of having the only boy in a class, I can change things up like that and it really doesn't affect anyone but him! I really wish my camera had been working because he looked so cool! They danced their jazz dance to Lollipop by Mika, and their tap was Sugar, Sugar by The Archies.

For ballet he wore a handmade shirt, which he hated so much, the ladies in his class wore this.I guess I did not mean for this blog entry to run on and on about my kids' dance recital, but that's ok I guess. Dance takes up a lot of our time (Alex dances 4 days a week, Hudson 2) and I do the newsletters and help with costumes and scenery, so it makes sense that at some point some talk of dance would filter in over here. As we do more with the costumes and scenery for this year's show I am sure I will post about it. In the meantime, my daughter was cast in her school's musical... hop on over to wildwilliams (my "family" blog) to see more!!