Ballet Fun

As far as dolls go, Isabelle is not on my girls want-list yet (although I wouldn't be surprised if she makes it on a birthday list by summer)  I really like a lot of Isabelle's clothes and accessories, and my girls and I have already been playing ballet as both my daughters love dancing ballet themselves.  Last Christmas (2012) we found the My life as a Doll- ballet set from Walmart.  It came with a tutu/leotard, shoes and a barre for around $16.  We pulled it out today, and set up a dance and tumbling studio for the dolls!

I love using sheets of foam core to construct temporary 'rooms' for the dolls.  I like being able to move them around, use them for play, then put them away when we are done playing.  Today I used a pink sheet, and a white sheet (that I borrowed from our bathroom) to create our ballet space.

The pink, lower barre is from Walmart, but, when I saw that Isabelle's barre had 2 heights, I thought that the high-bar from McKenna's gymnastic set might work for our ballet-play today.  When I placed it behind the pink set, it was a perfect set.  The 'wrist-guard' from the gymnastic set worked perfect to help the dolls hold their pose.  These are a removable piece, so I wonder if Isabelle's barre diameter is the same as McKenna's bar?  If so, then it might be helpful to use the wrist-guards with it?  I know they make the straps that go along with the Pilates mat to help hold poses, but the wrist guards helped hold the doll in a standing position at the barre.  

At my daughter's dance studio, the girls wear black leotards, pink tights, and pink ballet slippers.  I was so happy to find this black leotard/skirt which came with the girl size set from Dollie and Me on Zulily this past fall.   Her pink slippers came from Springfield dolls, as did the pink leotard that Clara is wearing, although the tutu came with a Batat doll, years ago, from Walmart.

When we thought we lost a few of the pieces to our ballet barre, I saw the same set on clearance for just $5 and picked up another set.  Today when I went to set it up, I found all the pieces to both sets!  Yeah for me!  I LOVE to find things I think I have lost!!!!!

My only complaint about the ballet barre I found at Walmart is that it is made to come apart for easy storage, and ours seemed to fall apart when the dolls were using it.  My solution was to add a bit of purple duct tape to help hold it all together.  I began by putting the duct tape around the outside, but found that putting the tape on the inner bar worked just as well, but looked cleaner.  

Emily is wearing the bitty-baby ballerina set from American Girl.

The girls really enjoyed dance class today! Hope you enjoyed sharing in our doll play today!  Be sure to share photos of your ballet studios on our facebook page!