The competitions were held on Friday and Saturday. Ballet classes were on the schedule for Sunday at Colorado Ballet.
Since photography is not allowed at the actual YAGP competition, we had a mini photo shoot after Saturday morning's rehearsal. Through connections, our director secured a studio for rehearsal that is a historic church building in downtown Denver.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance's stage proved to be the ideal location for perfecting pirouettes. The dancers also had to learn how to control their breathing at the higher altitude. Several of the CPRD company dancers came in to watch during their lunch break -- their kind support of our girls was appreciated. And their tip to drink LOTS of water helped with the breathing issues.
As I was trying to take a photo of Liesey with her two teachers/coaches, a not-so-observant lady walked right in front of the camera as I clicked away. She apologized profusely, but was grabbed by the arm & yanked back for a second photo. :-) That seems like something that I would do. Must be a blonde thing.
The tutus are gorgeous...
...and so are the girls!
(I might be somewhat biased.)
John, of J&K Costumes, gets the credit for creating all of these lovely tutus. Our ballerina's tutu is not quite finished, but we had to take it to Denver "as-is." There will reportedly be more Swarovski crystals here, there, and everywhere for added glitz. I think there are going to be some additional gold scrolls, as well. We think that our Cinderella will get to use this costume for the upcoming production of Cinderella, so it should be 100% complete by the show.
I could make some corny remark here about there being two too many tutus on either side of my daughter, but I won't. Oh, dear! I just did.
As I was trying to take a photo of Liesey with her two teachers/coaches, a not-so-observant lady walked right in front of the camera as I clicked away. She apologized profusely, but was grabbed by the arm & yanked back for a second photo. :-) That seems like something that I would do. Must be a blonde thing.
Our dancer got ready for the awards ceremony...
Mr. Smith & I didn't look this pretty, so there are no pics of us!
Tori, Olivia, Liesey, Les, Jana, and Alaina
Thankfully, ballet did not completely dominate our schedule while we were in Denver, so the Smiths met up with the "Jones" family on Friday night. It had been way toooo long since we had seen T&T. (Three years?!)
We enjoyed tasty Italian fare, a nice bottle o' red, wonderful conversation, and lots of laughs (and tears!) with our dear friends. It's a good thing the restaurant wasn't really busy, as we were at our table for a few hours. We then grabbed a cup of coffee & "yacked" some more at a nearby Starbucks. We stayed until the barista politely reminded us that they would be closing in five minutes. Time flies when you're havin' fun -- it's true!
For an encore, we enjoyed yet another S-bucks break on Saturday morning. Mrs. Jones and I visited for a few more hours, and we still are not quite up-to-date. I am not sure that we would ever run out of things to discuss. Coffee & conversation are two of my favorite things -- especially when shared with a good friend!
As if a weekend filled with tutus and old friends was not enough fun, as an added bonus, Mr. Smith & I had about five hours to ourselves on Sunday afternoon to explore Denver. No kids! During our outing, my "boyfriend" treated me to a decaf. latte made with 1% milk at Peet's Coffee in Denver. YUM! It was a tasty reminder of California.
Deliciousness -- good to the last drop!
Deliciousness -- good to the last drop!I guess this latte kind of represents our weekend in Colorado -- it was a treat that we savored, but it was gone much too quickly. Sigh!
