Dancers Birthday Surprise
/As you all may know we have some very smart, beautiful, kind, loving and talented nieces. One of our nieces loves to dance.... I mean she loves to dance. I guess you could say Savannah is our very own Ballerina....
Savannah in her first dance recital and 2014 Dance Summer Intensive #frozensummer2014
And we think that's great. A little bit of history - You see, her great-grandmother Monita, was a dancer also. Monita was not nearly as fortunate - she loved dance so much but didn't have the money to take dance lessons so she would clean the dressing rooms for the other dancers and mop and sweep in exchange for dance lessons. Monita was very determined to dance. Savannah, our niece, is also very determined. Donyal (Savannah’s mother) is named after Monita, our grandmother. Monita always wanted me to dance, she payed for dance lessons when we lived in California but when we moved to Georgia there were not as many opportunities. I always wished I had continued dance.
Monita and Delise
Monita and Donyal
As an adult one year for my birthday Mom took me to see the Nutcracker. Mom and I at the Nutcracker together is one of my fondest memories.
Watching the Nutcracker at the Grand Opera House every year is so special especially now that Savannah has been performing for the past 6 years. If you have not seen the performance recently you should make a point of attending this wonderfully produced ballet in our own community. There are a lot of very talented people in Middle Georgia!
Earlier this year Savannah was accepted to ABT dance camp at the University Of North Carolina School Of Arts - it was a 4 week program to be held in July. These thing are not cheap... So Sacrifices would have to be made. Donyal and Michael were determined if that was what she truly wanted to do, they would make it happen. Packed and off she went. This is the first time Savannah has been away from home for more than 7 days at one time. Long before Savannah left, Donyal said she would love to redo Savannah's bedroom while she was away at dance camp. So I started to pick Savannah's brain, if you ever re-did your room what color would you want it and so on… We even went to the store and Savannah picked out some paint chip colors she liked.
Savannah's room before the makeover.
Now keep in mind Savannah had no idea about her Mom's plan. First we needed to come up with a design and Donyal asked for my help. Then the room had to be cleaned out. Michael and Donyal disassembled everything, packed it up and moved it out to the spare bedroom.
Mirror and Ballet Bar - Deer Head and Ballet Slippers
Next the walls had to be painted. I think Donyal had a paintbrush in her hand for four days straight. Mark came down from Atlanta for the weekend and assisted with the project.
Paul and Mark hung bookcases, put in a dance rail and mirror. Paul created a makeup desk with lighted mirror. Michael and Chris hung blinds and installed a new T.V. Donyal handpainted a great sign that said "Dancing is like dreaming with your feet". 5 days later we were done.
After the makeover!
Now it was road trip time, Donyal, Paul and I were off to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to see Savannah on her birthday and the last two days of dance camp. We were fortunate enough to get to observe her in two of her classes. Then we took her to a great dinner at The Tavern in Old Salem. Savannah even tried duck for the first time. The next day we watched her dance in the end of the program performances - I guess you could say we were pretty proud.
Savannah was chosen to lead part of the class on her birthday.
During the long ride home, we just hoped no one would let the cat out of the bag. When we arrived home she went straight to her room to look for her cat. Michael was in the room filming in anticipation of how she would react. We are so happy to report that she absolutely loved it and was very grateful to everyone that helped with this wonderful Birthday gift. It was so much fun for us and we are so glad we got to help. The look on her face was priceless!
A happy birthday dancer!
#ballet #mintbedroom #coralbedroom #bedroommakeover
