Recital Hair and Makeup

Makeup

Makeup should be worn for both the Dress Rehearsal and Performance.  Younger children should wear lipstick, eye shadow, and blush.  Use natural tones.  Older students should wear the same, plus foundation, eyeliner and mascara.  If your child's eyebrows are light, please darken them slightly. 

Hair

For the sake of neatness, most of our students will need to have their hair neatly pulled back into a classical ballet bun or other specified hairdo with no bangs. Students will need to have their hair up in ballet buns, double buns, ponytails, or ½ up ½ down.  Please see the Recital Information Chart for a listing of how each class needs to have their hair done.  We will show you how to do your child's hair at Costume Distribution Day.

• Most students will need to use gel to hold their hair in place.
• Students needing buns need to use hairpins and a hairnet.
• Regardless of style, the bangs of all students must be pulled back off their faces.  If a student's bangs are short, wet their hair and use gel and bobby pins to get them back. 
• Students with very short hair must have it secured back so that it is not hanging loose. If your daughter has short hair, we will help you.
• Please do not use fancy colored clips, beads, or other visible hair accessories. Just pull their hair straight back cleanly and neatly into a bun or a pony. The goal is to see the hairpiece that comes with the costume and not the accessories needed to hold up the hair. Again call us if you have a concern.
• If you need it, we will be happy to demonstrate how to do hair. Please call us if you need help.

Tumbling students may need to have double buns.
Jazz, Tap, and Lyrical students should read the section below on ponytails.

Headpieces: Make sure your child's hair and any hair accessories (headpiece, bow, fake ponytail) are secured firmly.  You should be able to give the headpiece a tug without it moving.  It is very upsetting to the child if her headpiece falls out.

Hair for Professional Photos: We will have a professional photographer available to take pictures, for those families who would like to purchase them. There will be two Photo Days - one at the studio before the recital, and the other at the Dress Rehearsal. Students may wear their hair however they wish for pictures on our studio Photo Day.

At the Dress Rehearsal, on stage, students must wear their hair as required for their number. If students wish to have a “photo” hairdo for their picture that is different than what they need for the stage, they may do so; however, leave enough time to change into or out of it, and do not wear this photo hairdo on stage. If you have many numbers and time is tight, consider the photo day at the studio instead of the one at the Dress Rehearsal.

Students with Multiple Hair Changes: During our Performances, parents of our younger children who have multiple hair and costume changes often ask if they should come down to the dressing rooms to help their children change their hairstyle. In general, we have enough experienced volunteers in the dressing rooms to help with all costume and hair changes, and parents do not need to make a special trip to help. Should we ever need additional help, we will make an announcement to the audience.

Hair Video

We found this YouTube video which comes very close to what we do:

Hairpins, such as those shown in the video, are better than bobby pins for creating the bun; you will need fewer pins and they will help the bun stay nice and full. The ones used in the video are available at dance shops; you can also get strong ones at some beauty supply shops, and sometimes drug stores or grocery stores. Rather than the snap pins used in the video, we suggest you use bobby pins to hold wisps or hair and/or bangs which are too short to be part of the bun. We recommend that you slightly bend the bobby pins into an arc to make them better fit the shape of the head. Ask us and we will be happy to show you!

Ponytails / Hair Falls / Fake Ponytails

During the recital, we occasionally have students wear ponytails instead of buns. We decide on hairstyles in March. Check the Recital Information Chart to see what hairstyle you will need.

Students may either wear a real or fake ponytail.  Some students prefer to pin fake ponytails on top of their buns instead of taking their buns out and letting their own hair down.  Some students with multiple hair changes also find this to be easier.  A regular ponytail is fine; however, if you would like to obtain your own fake ponytail, please talk to your teacher about the proper style. You can obtain a fake ponytail from Cedar Beauty Supply Store, 1937 MacDade Blvd., Woodlyn PA  (610) 872-1331.

The hair spray and gel you use for stage will darken your hair. When you go to the store to match your hair color, you should either have gel in your hair, wet your hair, or obtain a hairpiece that is a shade darker than your natural hair color.

Talk to the studio office before buying a new hairpiece (especially students in our Performing Group classes). We usually do not know what is needed until later in the year.

Hairpieces should be placed, for protection, inside a hairnet inside a plastic bag. Throwing hairpieces haphazardly into dance bags can destroy them.

Questions?

The recital is an exciting time for the students. If you have any questions about the performance, dates, costumes, or whatever, please call us; we are there for you.