Recital makeup checklist!

It's that time of year again: dance recital!

Whether you're the parent of a child dancer, a teen going on-stage with their school's company, or an adult like any of the sixteen who are performing my excerpts from Cinderella on June 3rd at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes (hint, hint!), you need to know about stage makeup.

Leigh Purtill Ballet Company's company manager, Rachel Swetnam (our Juliet in last year's production of Sweet Sorrow), held a makeup tutorial session yesterday to help some of our newest dancers who aren't as familiar with all the things you need when you go on stage.

Rachel's motto: "Scary makeup in person is just-right on stage."

Rachel not only helped these newer dancers, she also created a checklist for a "performance toolkit" that you should take with you whenever you perform. It's a cheat sheet of items that you will likely need, especially if you are a ballet dancer. Other groups, such as competition teams, might have other needs, but this is a basic guideline for most disciplines.

Here are some fun photos from her tutorial yesterday:

And here is the checklist! Do YOU have everything you need to perform?

Happy dancing~

Vacation dates, recital tickets, and new t-shirt!

Hello beautiful dancers, friends and students!

For those of you I haven't seen in class and whose email I might not have, please note I will be on vacation from Tuesday, May 22-Monday, May 28. There will be no classes while I'm gone:

--at Dance Arts Academy on Tuesday 5/22 & Thursday 5/24
--at Inspire Dance Studio on Wednesday 5/23, Saturday 5/26 & Monday 5/28

I WILL be teaching as usual at Inspire on Monday 5/21 and will be back to teach at Dance Arts on Tuesday 5/29. If you have questions, just ask. :) And if the question is why am I going out of town, the answer is: college reunion! Yes, it's a big one and I couldn't not attend. It's also a good chance to see my family on the east coast.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. After this absence, I promise I will be in town for the rest of the year!

As soon as I get back, we will be doing our spring recital on June 3rd at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes. Shows are at 1PM and 4PM. My dancers will be doing three excerpts from Cinderella that I choreographed with costumes by Nana Chin and Wilma Woo. You can get tickets here.

And one last item: new t-shirts! The always-amazing, multi-talented, super-gifted Bill Reiss has designed a brand new shirt for the recital but honestly, I would wear it all year round. It looks beautiful on black; the colors are vibrant and the movement is so joyful. Each is $20. Below is the design and you can purchase them here.

That's it for a week or so. If I don't see you before my mini-vacay, have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and I will see you right after the holiday. Cheers and happy dancing!

Tickets available now for Nutcracker 2017!

Are we the first Nutcracker of the 2017 season? I think we can claim that distinction!

Come see my dancers perform with the students of Classical Ballet Theater at the beautiful Norris Theater in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday, November 19. Shows are at 1PM and 4PM. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for kids. Available now through the Norris Theater box office:

Nutcracker tickets for Leigh Purtill Ballet & Classical Ballet Theater