Russian...

The last week before break, the dance school where Clara takes ballet and character had their winter show.  Clara and her friend performed the Russian dance from the Nutcracker.  She loves this dance (and the costume) and couldn't wait to perform it!

However, she wouldn't look at me for photos... sigh...

 A series of shots of Clara with her friend and partner for the dance...

Think she was tired of me taking photos?

 Clara and another one of her friends...

... they've gotten really close over the past year and now dance together three days a week at three different places!

And now for my performance shots of questionable quality.  Jeff was out of town and Alex was at a Christmas party, so I was on my own to either shoot still shots or take video.  I couldn't decide, so I attempted both.  I had my flip video camera balanced on my knee with my left hand and my camera in my right... but I shoot fully manual and wasn't able to make adjustments for lighting as I shot, so everything ended up overexposed.  My video turned out a little funky too (I'll post that tomorrow).  But I guess video and still shots of questionable quality are better than not having them, right?

Anyway... the girls did a FABULOUS job!  They were really good, strong partners for this dance... I just loved watching them...