Lil' Ballerina

"March of the Wooden Soldier"

Alyssa is finishing up her first year of ballet and we are getting close to the recital.  When Alyssa first started, she was really excited about it, so we decided to take her to the ballet as a birthday present last December.  She and I went to see "The Nutcracker."  I am new to the world of dance since I played sports instead as a kid.  It was my first time seeing any sort of ballet, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it.  The beauty of dance and the human body brought tears to my eyes.

However, there is another side of dance that I do not agree with.  Alyssa is only 7 years-old, and she is supposed to wear a full face of make-up for the pictures and recital.  I did let her wear some make-up for picture day (above), but not nearly the amount that is expected of these children.  Children are beautiful without all the extra effort.  Our society has such a skewed perception of beauty that only a computer can achieve it.  Telling these little girls that this is how you become beautiful will only encourage this altered view of beauty.  Also, some of the costumes the girls are told to wear are ridiculous for their age.  Thankfully, Alyssa's costume was fine. 

Alyssa does not enjoy ballet as much as she thought she would, so she is moving on to another activity this fall.  If she did enjoy it, I would let her continue, but I would make sure to have conversations with her about what beauty really is.  We'll probably still have those conversations even though she will not be in ballet, but thankfully she won't be in a world where she is told to wear an inch of make-up to look beautiful.

On a completely different topic, I realized when I was uploading the above picture that I have not uploaded hardly anything since before Christmas!  HERE is an album of what's been going on the past 6 months, other than what I've already posted.