I picked out this costume for my ballet class that ranges from 7-9 in age

www.weissmanscostumes.com . . .

Was planning to take off the flowers and use it with "Fly to Your Heart" from the Tinker Bell movie.

I showed it to the kids and they didnt seem excited or sad or anything.

Tonight on a totally different note I gave them tinkerbell stickers to choose from, and some downright said they didn't want Tinker Bell (they get to choose off the sheet I give out or don't get one) but still worries me a little that they are going to hate their recital!

Thoughts??? Should I change it, my SO has started getting the invoices ready for next week handout, but I can probably persuade her to change mine. Or should I just stick with it, I think its so fun but I dunno, am maybe getting worried over nothing?

I love "fly to your heart" and I think the song is perfect for that age group

Just my opinion of course, but I would have chosen a more grown up costume and less tinkerbellish. Maybe a bottom with more of a flow.

I used this song last year. Perhaps they are too old for the literal Tinkerbell interpretation. If you have time to change the costume perhaps something in red and shift the focus to the fact that Selena Gomez sings the song.

I think J1ll's idea is a really good compromise. How about this costume instead?

www.weissmanscostumes.com . . .

Stick with your original plan. I often have second thoughts about things and change things up trying to please everyone. It doesn't work. It just makes my life more stressful and gives the kids the idea that they should always have a say in what they think they want...which changes week to week anyway.

I think the "Fly To Your Heart" suggesting is great, and the short sassy look of the costume you choose is going to be fine. Maybe the kids are just too young to visualize it without the flowers.

Remember...you can't thrill everyone. I'm sure once the kids get going on the dance they are going to love it.

Keep On Dancing*

I would agree to possibly change the costume, something flowy but a different color, can still represent a "fairy" just more grown up type costume like what hummingbird added. (if you want more of the tinkerbell, use the green its older looking because its darker)

here are a few more if you are able to change it

www.weissmanscostumes.com . . . in aqua


www.weissmanscostumes.com . . . in blue


www.weissmanscostumes.com . . . (if you wanted a tutu- in the cream)

I also think the literal version of tinkerbell to be a bit young for this age group. Mine at this age have always loved a costume with a romantic tutu.

I think the costume is both really pretty and age appropriate, as well as very appropriate for ballet. I wouldn't try to go with something more "adult," personally. No reason for them to try to look like teenagers -- they'll have plenty of chances to do that years from now, when they're actually, you know, teenagers.

I definitely wouldn't change the costume for the kids. If they're not happy now, there's a chance they'll change their mind -- I've had students not like a costume in a picture, only to love it when they actually got to wear it. Also, some of the students may have been excited about the costume, even if they didn't necessarily show it in class at the time. Plus, I would never want to give the students that much power and let them think they have control!

No. I am not too old for Tinkerbell!!

I don't think you should change it. I love your original idea, and I don't think it's too young for them because well..7-9 IS young. They might not be excited about it just because they haven't tried it on, and it's not yet tangible to them yet..it's simply an idea on a piece of paper to them right now, you know? Just my thoughts.

I used this song for the exact same age group 2 years ago, and they loved it. I didn't dress them like Tinkerbell though...they probably would have thought that was too babyish. They just wore a long pink/white romantic tutu.

I like the idea. I would hate to think they are too old for it.

I used a combination of Looney Tunes, Sponge Bob, and some other children's songs in my age 4-6 Cheerleading class. They aren't too crazy about it. They want Shake It Up music :/

I've been thinking hard about this, and decided I would like to change it, I have no intention of letting the kids or parents know why, will just say that the other costume is not available and I had to choose a new one. I sent three to my SO waiting to hear if any are close enough in price to the tinkerbell one to make the change (we handed out invoices last class)

Here are the three:
First choice (purple):
www.weissmanscostumes.com . . .

Alternatives:
www.weissmanscostumes.com . . .
www.weissmanscostumes.com . . .

I don't have access to pricing so won't know until she checks if any will work, fingers crossed that one does!

Thanks for all your opinions, I still think they aren't took old, but other things went into the decision, including the fact that there are several kids with a competition costume that is quite similar to the green one etc.

They probably aren't ACTUALLY too old, but if they feel like you're treating them "like their babies", then they're going to be hard pressed to want to take your class again next year. So consider it from that vantage point too. My five year old is constantly going "I can do it, I'm FIVE." And yes, his mental and verbal maturity is probably outpacing his physical maturity (like with your girls...), but as long as I'm not putting him in danger (and I don't...), I'll respect his desire to get to do stuff for himself, why not?

I have found that the age of the model in the photo can make a difference. If the model looks young, then they think the costume is "babyish". If the model looks like an older child, than it's suddenly cool. It seems stupid, but it's sometimes the truth of the matter.

^ Totally true that!

Those costumes look beautiful, I hope one of them fits the bill for you.

DaDancingPsych wrote:

I have found that the age of the model in the photo can make a difference. If the model looks young, then they think the costume is "babyish". If the model looks like an older child, than it's suddenly cool. It seems stupid, but it's sometimes the truth of the matter.

True. In many instances at the studio, they've cut the heads off the models when they were cutting the pictures out, so the girls only saw the costume, and weren't swayed by the faces.

Did you tell them what the song was or just showed them the costume?

The best piece of advice I got in the Choreography Theory class I took in college was to not tell the students what the song is or play it for them until they have learn a bit of the choreography. If the decide beforehand they don't like the song they wont like the dance.

mm_dancer - of the new costumes - I absolutely LOVE the purple one - gorgeous!

majere wrote:

The best piece of advice I got in the Choreography Theory class I took in college was to not tell the students what the song is or play it for them until they have learn a bit of the choreography. If the decide beforehand they don't like the song they wont like the dance.

This is so true - especially with teens! I figured this one out the hard way after a few classes where I'd get the "we're not dancing to THIS song, are we?" and then the half-hearted performance because they had made up their mind that they hated the song, therefore hated the dance.

tappin_cait wrote:

mm_dancer - of the new costumes - I absolutely LOVE the purple one - gorgeous!

majere wrote:

The best piece of advice I got in the Choreography Theory class I took in college was to not tell the students what the song is or play it for them until they have learn a bit of the choreography. If the decide beforehand they don't like the song they wont like the dance.

This is so true - especially with teens! I figured this one out the hard way after a few classes where I'd get the "we're not dancing to THIS song, are we?" and then the half-hearted performance because they had made up their mind that they hated the song, therefore hated the dance.

I have always let them listen to the song (partly because it's a requirement at the current school) prior to learning the dance. But I have always come up with a way to "sell" it to my students.

"This year we are going to do an ultra cool fairy dance. You will look like beautiful ladies dancing on the stage!"

Rather than...

"We're gonna do a Tinkerbell dance. You will be so cute in the costume."

I try to feel out how I want to spin things with each class. Sometimes I nail it or the dance sells itself... other times, I have to continuously sell it.

Well I've been told that none of those three options were close or cheaper then the green costume, so no luck and my SO placed the order without giving me a chance find anything else that would be in the same price range.
Guess they will have to suck it up for one year, going to go with my gut next year.

Well since you are *stuck* with the costume, can you change the song and/or not be Tinkerbell?

Before reading through all of the comments I was thinking the same thing as others posted: the model probably swayed them a bit and you have to sell it.

Just an anecdote though, when I was in college and still dancing at my home studio I did a fairy dance in a VERY literal costume. There were also other college, high school, and full fledged adults in the piece. No one complained, in fact, everyone was really excited about having such whimsical costumes. That's what a lot of dance, especially ballet, is-fantasy.

If you are stuck using both the costume and the theme still, maybe you could show them some of the classical and fairy based ballet pieces like sleeping beauty.

Don't know if that would help, but I'm sure it will all work out. Best of luck!

I was also going to add, as the PP that fairies are quite common in ballet. We are doing Sleeping Beauty this year and have "fairy attendants" for each older fairy and those are our 5-9 year old classes. The 10-12 year olds are heartbroken they're not fairies too!

Fairies and other fairy tale characters are so common in ballet, you are just teaching them some history using a more contemporary song! Other whimsical ballets: Les Sylphides, Cinderella, Firebird, Giselle, La Sylphide, Coppelia... Having to dance like a fairy is one of the reasons we have pointe shoes (or so I've read recently...) Marie Taglioni wore pointe shoes in La Sylphide to have a more lifted and floating quality to her movement.

Good luck. It's never fun or easy to have to sell a dance or a song but you can do it!!

I am actually using fly to your hear for my 8 year old ballet. The kids actually like the song. I did not tell them it was from tinker bell and their costume is not at all literal. Once they see the costume in person and not on a younger looking model, i bet they will love it. In the meantime hype up the song and drop the tinker bell reference.