La Belle au Bois Dormant

All the Saturdays spent rehearsing (since September), all the driving, all the blisters, all the tears over stuck bobby pins, all the hard work was worth it to see Georgia and India perform in their ballet school's mesmerizing production of Sleeping Beauty last weekend. The standard of dancing was so good, you quickly forgot you were watching students rather than professionals and the audience, who bought their tickets before the show sold out in December, cannot have been disappointed, whether they knew any of the performers or not. The standing ovation showed they weren't!

Our girls are so fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of this experience. It is amazing to see what comes out of this small ballet school that I found by chance through a Google search. Their teacher, Sophie Ponthier demands and gets high standards, but always with a smile and perfect English! Her mother makes all the exquisite costumes (and I can tell you they look just as good inside as out). The student who danced the role of the Lilac Fairy has a place at the Paris Opéra School next year and Mme Ponthier's own ballet mistress, former Opéra star Liane Daydé came backstage after the performance to tell all the dancers that they deserved to be on stage at the Opéra! A polite gesture, maybe, but the star quality rubs off.

It is not always easy to get the girls out the door to ballet class three times a week and the language barrier makes it hard for them sometimes, but I think the memory of this show will be one of the best souvenirs of our time in France.