ballet class circa 2011

I can picture the main studio at Civic Ballet Company in every detail:  the barre along the third story windows overlooking Penn Avenue, the gray marmoleum flooring that showed years of scuffs from tap shoes, the 30-foot-long wall of mirrors in which we'd critique every tendu and plie.   But by far my most distinct memory is the whirr and scratch of a record going round as we waited for the next song to begin.  That's right--we danced to classical music on vinyl.  On a record player.  

Note now Sadie's RAD-trained teacher queuing up music with a remote.  To an Ipod.  Oh, how times have changed.  

I do, however, love everything else traditional about this studio, right down to the required level-specific matching leotards and annual theme performances.  This June's recital will be Peter and the Wolf at the Tower Theater, in which the pre-primary ballerinas will be frogs.  Ribbit!!