January 22, 2003
Angelina Ballerina party keeps dancers on their toes
Budding ballerinas gather for games, stories and graceful moves Sunday at Studio 101 in Traverse City
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
First position, pas de chat, second position, temps li‚.
Seven girls gathered on a snowy Sunday afternoon to revel in their favorite activity: dancing.
Budding ballerinas ages three to seven, the girls gathered at Studio 101 for an Angelina Ballerina party featuring games, prizes, snacks and the chance to practice some graceful moves.
"I like the stuff we do at the barre," said Emma Oliver, 6, who attends ballet classes at Dance Leelanau. "It is easy to remember the moves."
Oliver attended the party with her sister, Maggie, 4, also an enthusiastic dancer, and mother, Julie Oliver of Suttons Bay.
"Dance is their latest kick and I think it is good for their posture and their confidence," Oliver said.
Sarah VanSype, 5, is a veteran of one stage production - last year's spring concert for her creative movement class - and is eager for more. Enrolled in a pre-ballet class this year, she came to the party dressed in ballerina pink from head to toe, ready to dance.
"I like dancing (I) like to go on stage," she said.
Debby Regiani, Sarah's mother, said dance is the one extra-curricular activity on their weekly schedule and that her daughter really looks forward to it.
"It gives her an outlet for her creativity," Regiani noted.
The Angelina Ballerina party was the brainchild of store owner Kris Hains, a former dancer who enjoys promoting dance any way she can. With the popularity of Angelina Ballerina books, Hains said a party featuring the popular dancing mouse and her friends was a natural. She read two Angelina Ballerina books to the girls and led them through an Angelina Ballerina game that helped them learn some basic ballet positions.
"Especially the kids these ages, I love watching them," said Hains, owner of Studio 101 since 1999. "It's not that every one is going to end up in the Joffrey, but dance gives them self confidence."
Noting that dance has been in her blood forever, Hains enjoys encouraging others in the sport. She began dancing before she was three years old when her parents enrolled her in class at the prompting of an eye doctor. This forward-thinking doctor believed that dance, by encouraging balance and coordination, could improve a lazy eye that Hains had since birth. Her eye did improve and a lifetime love of dance was born.
"Six months later they tried to pull me out but I loved it and danced for 15 years," Hains said.
To also encourage dance in the area, Hains decided to host a used dance shoe and clothing exchange the fourth Sunday of every month. Beginning on Sunday, January 26, people can drop off shoes, leotards or other dancewear at Studio 101 from 1 to 3 p.m. Hains requests that the equipment be clean and in good condition, with prices plus the name and phone number of the seller marked on each item.
Hains also asks that sellers donate ten percent of the proceeds to the Pat Easterday Memorial Scholarship, an area dance scholarship.
"We had so many people asking if there were some place to get used shoes," Hains said. "We just thought this exchange would be a way for people to help each other, the kids can grow out of things so quickly."
For more information on the dance shoe and clothing exchange, contact Kris Hains at 946-7953.