Pictures from "A Sacrifice of Praise"

Still pictures from the dress rehearsal of "A Sacrifice of Praise" were just added to a Picasa web album, which you can see by clicking here. It takes time to sort through them all, but it brings back good memories!

Slideshow for "A Sacrifice of Praise"

Below is a slideshow of pictures that was played at the end of "A Sacrifice of Praise." It shares pictures from the 2009-2010 year in addition to pictures from the dress rehearsal and presentations leading up to "A Sacrifice of Praise."

The original background song was "O Praise Him" by the David Crowder Band - it fit the theme well. But because my ASCAP license only covers music played live at the presentation, for the upload I used a song my good friend Miriam Hart (with her brother's accompaniment) played at her senior recital - a classical piece and thus not copyrighted. Just ignore the slight noises in the background, as it was recorded live at her recital. :)

These pictures represent a great year; I've learned so much, and God has done amazing things. All praise goes to Him!


To see the slideshow larger on Tangle, click here.

Praise God for 'A Sacrifice of Praise!'

Today, at 4 PM, we began "A Sacrifice of Praise." By 5:15 PM the program was over, and by 6:30 PM, we were out of the building, with everything taken down.


Things really came together. The girls danced beautifully I hear (I was backstage, after all!), and many people were blessed. It's hard to believe that it's all over now!

To God be the glory! Great things He has done!

Take it All

My prayer is that everything we do today, as we present "A Sacrifice of Praise" at 4 PM, will be done all for God's glory.

Picture Credit: Debbie Townes

Ready

Ready and waiting for their turn to dance.

Many thanks to the mothers who help keep them lined up and to the stage in time!

Picture credit: Donna Jo Smith

Memories

We have many great things to remember from this year!

Picture credit: Debbie Townes

Forever

"Forever God is faithful..."

Picture credit: Debbie Townes

Fountain of Praise

"Our fountain of praise begins with Thee"

I'm Yours

The King's Praise Ballet 2010

God has blessed us with a wonderful year!

Dance in B&W

This class has dresses that are beautiful in color, but they're also lovely in black and white! I like how these pictures turned out with that effect.

Sharing at Charlton Place

This afternoon The King's Praise Ballet shared at Charlton Place, a local nursing home. The girls danced beautifully, and it was great practice in dancing for others, while at the same time blessing the residents that came to watch!

Below are some pictures my Dad kindly took.

Teaching six five-year-olds to work together is a challenge, but they're learning! :)

"We will give our lives - a sacrifice of praise!"

"Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty..."

"It's not for us; it's all for Him."

Swirls of color... painting a moving picture.

"Though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name."

Balet II dancing at Fountain of Grace

"Take myself and I will be ever only all for Thee."

Ballet II danced to "Take My Life" at Fountain of Grace yesterday, April 25th. All but one of the girls attend the church, so it's neat to see them sharing their gifts with the congregation.

"Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold..."

It took some creativity to work the fabric in the limited space, but a mother and I worked the side doors, getting them in and out in time.

"Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love."

The countdown to "A Sacrifice of Praise" is on: 5 days to go! Thankfully, the girls can share their dances more than just once though; on Tuesday we'll dance at a nursing home as well.

Wee Ballet and Basic Ballet/B dancing at Fountain of Grace

Yesterday, on Sunday, April 18th, Wee Ballet and Basic Ballet/B each shared a dance during the morning service at Fountain of Grace.

Wee Ballet danced to "Better is One Day"

"One thing I ask, and I would seek..."

Basic Ballet/B danced to "We Fall Down." A father of one of the girls did a part in the dance.

"We cry holy, holy, holy, is the Lamb."

Ballet Portraits Take II

Yesterday the last four classes had their pictures taken. It is so much fun to see all the pretty colors on the beautiful dancers!It has been more work to have each class have a different costume, as almost every costume needed something altered or added to it. But, it's so much fun to see the variety, and it's been fun in choreography as well.

Unfortunately, some of the girls have to deal with scratchy sleeves... But I'm praying they'll be able to forget about the discomfort and dance for God's glory!

This class is dancing to songs that have more of a highland, Celtic feel. This dress complements them perfectly!

This class is dancing to the song "We Fall Down," which talks about laying their crowns at the feet of Jesus. So, their costume has more of a "princess" feel.

These dresses, for my 4 and 5 year old class, are just plain adorable! Seeing them always makes you want to smile. :)

Many colors work together for this one!

Praise God for the beauty He's blessed us with!

Ballet Portraits Sneak Peak

Yesterday my mom and dad helped me set up the backdrop for this spring's ballet portraits. It was fun to see ideas I had in my head translate into a beautiful setting for pictures. The backdrop is the same basically for each class, using a lattice, tulle, fake greenery, and columns on the edges. Each class gets some other colored fabric or tulle added as well, to give their pictures a special identity.

Today the first two classes had theirs taken by my dad. Below is a sneak peak at how they're turning out.

Each class gets a group shot

Each individual dancer gets a special portrait.

Sisters who take dance get a special memory photo.

So sweet!

It was fun to see them all dressed up in their costumes too. It's been a lot of work, but things are coming together!

Preparations for "A Sacrifice of Praise"

The Lord willing, The King's Praise Ballet will present their end-of-the-year recital, "A Sacrifice of Praise," on Saturday, May 1st. It's still more than 3 months away, but preparations have been in full swing since the end of December.

There have been songs to find - 14 to be exact. After listening to almost all of my CDs and searching online, I was able to find songs that fit each class and work together as a whole.

Next, comes the task of choreographing them all. It's fun, but time-consuming work. The best way for me is to listen to the songs over and over as I work on other things, getting fully familiar with each song. I then edit/shorten the song if need be, so that the girls aren't onstage for too long and are able to learn the dance without too much repetitive music. 4 minutes is usually the maximum length, 3 minutes the goal, and 2 minutes if they're really small. Generally, the younger the girls, the shorter the song. :)

Then, as I've been doing this past month, I take time to focus on each song, listening to it as a whole, then coming up with movements phrase-by-phrase. While I listen to the music the weeks before choreographing, I nearly always get visual pictures of what different parts could look like. This can be dangerous, though, for sometimes inspiration comes at the most random of times - like the time I was driving to a friend's house and missed my exit on the highway because my head was full of dance moves for a particular song. *ahem*

This time, it's been fun to think more outside of the box, and come up with different patterns and ways of moving. I try to make each dance different, which can be difficult when you're choreographing many songs at once and working with beginning dancers. But, God is so awesome to give much inspiration and creativity! So far, I have 7 songs completed and 5 partially done. I write down the choreography for each song in my notebook, to keep track of them all.

I've already started teaching the girls their dances, which is always a hard period. There never seems to be enough time in class to do barre work, stretching, combinations, and learn a dance! But, I try to balance it out, even if we don't accomplish it all each week. It's always difficult to translate what I see in my head into the the hearts and bodies of my students, but it is exciting to see things begin to take shape.

Another big part of preparing for a presentation is finding the costumes. It's very hard to find modest, beautiful costumes, especially for older girls. But, by God's grace I found some lovely ones, though some will need layering to make them work. It was a long search, and I joined 5 costume companies in the process, but I finally found affordable, tasteful options. Measurements are being taken this week, and the orders should be placed next week!

The props this year have been fun to find and create as well. I've tried to make each class have something different, so some will have billows and large flags, others crowns, some long, wide ribbons, others smaller, many-colored ribbons, and multi-colored flags and pastel fabric drapes round out the selection. The search takes a long time - and the fabric department at Hobby Lobby has come to recognize me as I go in use a 40% off coupon nearly every time I'm in the area - but it is enjoyable.

There's still much to do, but though it can be tiring and overwhelming at times, I am enjoying the preparations. It takes sacrifices, but through these sacrifices, I hope to bring God praise!


Please pray that the preparations will continue to go well, and that God will be glorified through it all.