Dance

Page Toppers

(much of this list was compiled by Madonna M.)

Quotes

• All life's problems are solved by dancing.
• Any day that I don't dance I consider wasted.
• The ballet toe shoe is one of the few instruments of torture to survive intact into our time.
• Dance is Life, everything else is just Details!
• Dancer's Attitudes Never Cease, Ever!
• I dance to live not live to dance
• I don't want people who want to dance, I want people who HAVE to dance. (George Balanchine)
• If dance were simple, they'd call it Hockey!
• If dance were easy it would be called football!
• If you get confused just jump around and wave your arms
• If you think dancers aren't athletes, think again
• Of course I have an Attitude, I'm a Dancer!
• There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance.
  Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
  (Mary Lou Cook)
• You need more than dancing shoes to be a dancer.
• We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance. (Martha Graham)

BALLET

Dance On

(Thena Smith)

Dance on beautiful child
And breathe in beauty and grace
Just look at the sparkle in your eyes
Just look at that lovely face.

Dance on with strength of body and mind
And let your spirit soar
Dance on until your find your dream
And then dance on some more.

We watch you dance and applaud you
For your joy is so sweet to see
Dance on and enjoy the dance
For it was truly meant to be.

Taken to the ballet for the first time, the little boy watched curiously as the dancers cavorted about on their toes.
"Mom," he finally whispered loudly, "why don't they just get taller people?"

Parades

Page Toppers

(Most of this list was compiled by Donna in MB)

I Love A Parade

Arden-Ohman Orchestra

I love a parade, the tramping of feet,
I love every beat I hear of a drum.
I love a parade, when I hear a band
I just want to stand and cheer as they come.
That rat-a tat-tat, the blare of a horn.
That rat-a tat-tat, a bright uniform;
The sight of a drill will give me a thrill,
I thrill at the skill of everything military.
I love a parade, a handful of vets,
A line of cadets or any brigade,
For I love a parade.

Performing Arts

Page Toppers

Drama Behind the Scenes

She made her debut in the Halloween play
As a witch in the Dance of the Brooms.
In the Valentine's play, she had nothing to say
But she wore a headdress with plumes.
As a tulip in May, she wore papier-mâché
And sang with a chorus of "blooms."
For the ten-minute total she went on display,
I spent seven months making costumes.

Child to mother at breakfast table: "I need a colonial costume for school today."
Mother: "What?! But your bus leaves in five minutes! When didn't you tell me last night?"
Child: "I didn't need it last night."

Marquee Lights

Mat a photo on black paper leaving a fairly wide edge around the photo. With a small circle paper punch make an equal number of white, yellow and gold circles. Alternate the circles in color order from light to dark repeating around the photos on the black mat. It will give the effect of blinking lights.

Page Ideas

• To make a title for a page with photos of any type of program (dance, music, school play, etc) cut a ticket shape from a piece of paper. Use the deckle cutter to make the ends look like they were torn off. Write the title on the paper.
• Scan and print the graphics used on the programs they hand out.
• Put strips of paper on the outside edges of a two page spread and a scalloped strip across the top with lines drawn on the paper so it gives the appearance of a stage curtain. Silhouette crop some photos and mat on yellow circles. Add yellow line drawn from a point at the top or bottom to give the appearance of spot lights. You can use the spotlight affect even if you don't silhouette the photos. Just circle cut and mat all the photos on yellow and scatter them on the page with lines going to various points around the edge.
• Mount rectangular photos on mats shaped like tickets. Trim the narrow edges with a raggedy scissor of some kind.
• Use footprint punches or cut shapes like shoe prints and put them on the page in the shape of dance steps with numbers and lines.

An album for a school musical or other program

(includes, tips, examples and a "script" that could easily be adapted for any type of program.)

First, some background. The musical our elementary school does every year is actually a "Revue," meaning that each grade does its own musical number or "act" (with dancing). There are skits done by the fifth graders between each of the acts. The show starts with the fifth graders all standing on the stage and they and the others all sing a song while the K through 4's, grade by grade, walk up the left aisle, climb the stairs, cross the stage and go down the right stairs and back out the left aisle. They all (well they're supposed to) wave as they cross the stage.

This year I had two children in the Revue. I originally planned to give extra prints to the directors (other moms, who of course didn't take any photos), when it occurred to me that I should put together a kids' book for each. After all, they put so much time into it and our kids got so much out of it.

Here's what I did. I made sure that I saved the rehearsal schedule, parent helping schedule, a copy of the lyric sheet each director sent home, the program from the performance and the write ups in the local papers. I made copies of everything.

I took pictures of a rehearsal with the director in view. My best pictures I took at the dress rehearsal--I could shots from all over the auditorium without worrying about an audience getting very annoyed with me. I got pictures of the parents helping with costumes and putting on make-up "back stage" and of the kids waiting to go on stage. I also took pictures of the children sitting down waiting for their turn to go on, during the performance they did for the whole school. One of my favorite pictures in the whole album is of the principal introducing the show to the school assembly. And, of course, I took a lot of pictures during the show .

For our Hello Dolly program, the layouts are simple, using red, black and metallic design lines, musical notes, top hats and roses stickers (CM special occasions) and black, dark green and red paper. Here's my outline and "script" that could easily be modified:

• Title Page - Pictures of the act on stage, with everybody in view, just after the curtain rose, and of the "marquee" outside, built for the occasion. Black Callipen: The Revue 1999
• Second page: Rehearsal schedule backed with paper. (Need to reduce when you copy for 8 x 10).
• Page 3 (facing): Pictures of rehearsal, with this journaling: "We rehearsed. And we rehearsed. And we rehearsed some more. [For this group I added: "We even had an extra rehearsal AFTER our big dress rehearsal.]"
• Page 4: More pictures of rehearsal, and the words, "And while we rehearsed every week, Joey's mommy, Suzie Smith, and Mary's mommy, Sally Jones, designed and sewed our spectacular costumes. All of our parents helped with a rehearsal or on the performance nights."
• Page 5: Copy of parent helper schedule.
• Page 6: Photos of putting on costumes and make-up with this writing: "The day we were waiting for finally came and we all got ready to perform for the whole school.
• Pages 7 and 8: More photos of getting ready.
• Page 9: Photos of group, all dressed, waiting for the program to begin, and a nice photo of the school principal. Journaling: "When everyone was seated in the auditorium, our principal, Mrs. Daniels, introduced the show."
• Pages 10 and 11: Photos of opening procession. "With the fifth graders on stage leading us all in "There's No Business Like Show Business!" each grade, starting from the kindergarten and going up to the fourth grade, marched across the stage."
• Pages 12 and 13: Pictures of group seated and in costume, watching other acts. And photos of other acts. Journaling: "Then we sat down and watched the rest of the show, until it was turn for our act."
• Page 14: Photo of lining up outside, "backstage" "At last, it was time to get ready to go on stage. We waited quietly outside for the word."
• Page 15: Photo of curtain opened and children standing, just before they started to sing. "The curtain opened and we all sang, as loudly as we could: 'Hello Dolly!'"
• Pages 16-23: Photos of the performance using the lines of the song for page toppers.
• Pages 24 and 25: Photos of director waving the children to the front of the stage to take a bow, and of the children bowing, and of the curtain closing.
• Page 26: Typed handout of the lyrics.
• Page 27: Picture of all performers in the Hello Dolly act, in costume (taken "backstage" in one of the classrooms, right before they went out). Page topper: "Thank you Mrs. Williams, from all of us." Lots of room below for kids to sign their names. I'm having all the children sign somewhere in the book, on a page with a picture featuring them, or on the last page.
• Page 28: Copy of program, and then a portrait sleeve with copies of local paper articles.
• Pages 29-30: Ruled pages for parents to add notes of their own.

It was an incredibly easy album to do, and fun!!

Added note: I used a combination of the Border Tips from one of the older layout books and the Wavy Ruler Fast Formula to do great corner borders for my son's album (12 x 12). Used red callipen for the square corner and black for the wavy over it. Put a red rose at the end of each black wavy line, placed a top hat in the corner, then popped bow tie and musical notes and metallic confetti along the line. Works best to put the little stickers near where the wavy line crosses the straight line. Also, used the micron pen to put little dots near each small sticker. Used my Designs N Lines to do neat journaling as part of the layout and one or two red short cuts. Did the corner stuff on left top and lower right of this two pages spread. It looks DYNAMITE, and was a really successful and quick adaptation of the Fast Formulas idea. (Mama Bear)