Emma’s award-winning performance of Rondo from Sonatina: Opus 36, #5 by Clementi. This clip showcases classic Emma behaviors, from the way she talks about the left-behind music, to her frustration that the music stand won’t go down and the way she starts even before she’s fully seated. Classic, I tell you.
I started this website a little over 10 years ago, just before Emma was born. It’s hard to believe that that tiny, dark-haired bundle of joy has grown into the smart, beautiful and funny girl you see up above.
Emma joined the Marin Dance Theater almost as soon as we moved to Marin this summer. Her first performance was a quick collection of pieces put together over the summer session. The winter performance was far different. It was a full-length, two hour long ballet called Sophie and the Enchanted Toy Shop featuring a full 150 dancers. Emma and the other girls practiced multiple times per week for hours on end, including back-to-back full dress rehearsals as the night grew closer.
In mid-January Henry, Emma and I joined the rest of Cub Scout Pack 28 for a weekend trip to Camp Marin Sierra, just inside the Tahoe National Forrest a few hours to the east of us. We were very excited because all the talk in the fall was about how lucky we were to draw a January date, when the snow pack was destined to be fantastic. Imagine our disappointment, then, as our camp date approached while we continued to enjoy (in San Rafael, anyway) the 2nd driest winter on record. Ever!
We’ve spent a fair number of days on a plane in the last six months with trips to Atlanta for Christmas, San Francisco for spring break and again to S.F. for a house hunting trip. While I think much of what the TSA does qualifies as “security theater” I’m always careful to keep my opinion to myself, especially around the kids.
Emma had her Spring 2011 piano recital this past weekend. The recital was themed “all creatures great and small” and all of the individual pieces were all animal or nature themed and ranged from The Giraffe Who Loved Mozart to Dancing Dolphins to Emma’s piece, which was entitled Call of the Wilderness.
Emma’s winter piano recital was all music from The Nutcracker Suite, which Tchaikovsky extracted from the two hour Nutcracker ballet. (The ballet was apparently a flop when first produced!)
Emma practiced this piece relentlessly for the past few months and forced us all to listen to the Suite in the car, as well. Who couldn’t stand a little more celesta in their life, eh?
As we gear up for Swim Team 2010 I thought we’d share more photos from Emma’s swim career last year. This set is from a meet at our “home” pool on Arroyo Vista, with announcer duties performed by the highly popular Mr. Henry, a teacher at Emma’s school.
Emma is performing in her very first school play, a performance of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She will be playing a Wonka Bar and has been practicing relentlessly for weeks. Here’s a little preview.
Emma joined the Rancho Santa Margarita Dolphins swim team this year and took to the water like, well, a dolphin. She practiced multiple times per week focusing on the 25 m freestyle and 25 m backstroke. Despite being the shortest person on the team she wasn’t (always) the slowest. By the time for the first meet her body was tan and her stroke smooth.