I hope you’re ready for a long post because I just could not decide which pictures of these ballerinas to use.
These four young ladies may look like your average high schooler, but they have a singular focus that is both rare and admirable. They are focused, determined, and disciplined. Not to mention graceful, athletic, and well, pretty darn cute, too.
This shoot was to help Maria celebrate her 16th birthday. The girls planned the outfits, the dance attire, borrowed tutus from their studio, and made a night on the town of it. After the shoot they were treated by Maria’s family to dinner at The Melting Pot. I happened to meet the owner of the restaurant the week after the shoot and mentioned it to him. He definitely remembered the girls and said that his waiters did, too! They were all impressed by how much food these tiny girls consumed!
It was pretty chilly, but wrapping up in blankets between shots helped.
They make it look easy, don’t they?
These two below went to preschool together and have been dancing together since they were about five.
During the course of the shoot, we came across several little girls who were smitten. This little girl admired the pointe shoes, the tutus, and then got a picture with ‘real’ ballerinas. Later on another little girl hollered down the alley to us, “I want to be just like you!”
Taking a brief break to catch up on the news.
The tutus they are wearing are from roles they have danced in different ballets. We’ve got a Snow Queen and two Sugar Plums from The Nutcracker and a dancer from Don Quixote.
We got lots of cars honking at the girls and shouting things like “You look great” and “Keep up the hard work.” It was encouraging that all the comments were so positive. See…what’s not to love about Grand Rapids?? And that black car in the background? They took a picture as they passed by. I guess they wanted some ballerina pictures, too.
Best friends, beautiful dancers, & girls of great character.