After Aina got promoted to Ballet 1B (she’s no longer a Pre-Ballet girl), her first stage performance was the end-year production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was based on Shakespeare’s play of the same title. She was one of the many Forest Fairies that dance along with the Puck.
Her makeup had also evolved… instead of the usual brown eyeshadows and pink blush that she had used in previous performances, this time she had to wear matte green eyeshadows. I, of course, did not have green eyeshadows. I almost never wear eyeshadows myself… After shopping around, I ended up borrowing one of those big eyeshadow palettes of from Chacha… Oh, and this year, it’s her first time wearing eyeliners! I know, it didn’t sound like a big deal, but it was for her. She felt like a bit older now that she got to wear eyeliners, especially those with wings. The winged liner… (Aina looooves make-up). She was a bit nervous at the beginning, but got a hang of it quickly.
During this year-end performance, there would be 3 different shows: Saturday Evening, Sunday Matinee, and Sunday Evening. Aina is on the last show, the Sunday Evening show.
This time, I wasn’t one of the backstage volunteers because I was running an ekiden/marathon relay at the SCMS with The Urban Mama team — which I still need to write about. So I was only around during her photo session and during the day of the performance.
Her photo session went okay, although she hurt her back during one of the poses. She had a bit of discomfort for a few days, but it went away on the day of the performance. Whew! I think her current costume looks very pretty, with flowers all over the bodice. And since she’s a forrest fairy, she had leaves for her headpiece.
And this was the result of the photoshoot. That second pose was the one that ended up hurting her back. I guess she hadn’t warmed up enough to do that pose.
Out of all of the ballet performances she had done, I think this was the one that she liked the most. As usual, right after we found out the title of the production, we looked in Youtube for videos. We did that with Giselle and La Bayadere, and watched the productions from a few ballet companies, mostly so that Aina would know the story and understand her part.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream ballet is choreographed by George Balanchine, and since it was newer compared to Aina’s previous ballet performances (A Midsummer Night’s Dream was premiered in NYC in 1962), Aina really got the story… and it was very humorous, something that Aina enjoyed. She was laughing and really enjoying the Youtube videos.
More photos in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2014 photo album.
