Jesus, The Most Beautiful Name (long post)

The girls worked so hard on their costumes. Kelsea had three dances with her class, plus a trio and a duet with friends. Nana made all the costumes for her class dances.

Kelsea and her friends worked hard on the costumes for their duet.

This is the design Linda Harford helped them with.


The girls in the trio got together a few times to create their costumes.






The day of auditions arrived and the girls were just a bit nervous.



Here they are listening to the critiques of the judges.



I am usually more frantic at the dress rehearsal to get the last minute touches done for Kelsea. Whether it's new tights or making sure the camera has batteries, something usually gets overlooked. This year was good. Everything was in place. I took all of my pictures this night so I could move around and get a closer shot and so I can relax and enjoy the show on the big night.







During the dress rehearsal they were given last minute instructions like remembering to smile, if there's a loose string on a costume, or if someone needs to adjust their dance for the stage. This gives them the chance to polish and fine tune their dances.



Here is Kelsea and Beth during their Duet.



This one is from "Screen Door on a Submarine".



Everyone did such a beautiful job. Here are my favorite parts from the rest of the night.

I love Grace and Christina's dresses.



I loved this dance. It was so beautiful. A lovely reminder of grace and forgiveness. Each girl did such a cute job at playing their part. I loved the saucy "gangstas".







The boys always give her flowers at the end of the recital. It's sort of a tradition.






Kelsea with her ballet teacher, JoAnn Stevens.