Saturday, August 23, 2008

Ana





Ana can't dance, but she loves it.  She is heavy on her feet.  Behind her back, in ballet class, the students gossip about how she moves like an elephant.  When Ana found out what was being said, she had a day of sadness.  She told her grandmother about her troubles, and her grandmother rushed to action, dried her tears, warmed up some milk for hot chocolate and told her an old Chinese proverb.  She said, "Ana my dear, if you can walk you can dance and if you can talk you can sing."  She told Ana that if her feet are heavy like an elephant's then she needs to stomp her heart out.  So, Ana did, and she has not looked back since.  During recitals, when Ana is performing, the audience can feel her footsteps like thunder in a storm and her heart fills them with awe.

Ana is over here waiting for a couch to dance on.

I was in the middle of making a bunch of my small giraffes with posable legs and I just had to stop and make Ana.  I think it is more difficult to mass produce the tinier things.  Also, the routine was making my head go a bit wonky.  I feel better now that I made Ana, and I think I will make several versions of her for Strange-folk and put my giraffes on hold.  Elephants are always a must see at the zoo, and baby elephants are one of the cutest things in existence.  Have you watched Planet Earth?  Have you seen the one segment with the baby elephant---you would know it if you saw it?  HEART WRENCHING!  I think if I were on the crew I wouldn't be able to just watch, I'd have to throw a big rock or something to scare away the lions.

7 comments:

Archie and Melissa said...

hi nichol!
i love ana! she is wonderful and i love her grandma's advice.
ellies are the best!
xo
m

Susan said...

Nichol, I grew misty eyed while I read your post about Ana. I took ballroom dancing as a somewhat chubby fourth-grader and we had an uneven number of boys and girls. Yes, you guessed it. No one wants to dance with me, so I "had" to dance with the teacher. She was a doll and danced lead so I could follow and in the end I could, of course, out-dance all the other pupils. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

When I did ballet, I threw up everywhere in a performance. So it could be worse. She's really cute though Nichol!

bozoette said...

What a wonderful trunk! My favoritest animal on one of the circuses I worked on was a little elephant -- her name was Dolly. She and my friend (who take care of her) used to walk hand-in-trunk around the circus lot.

Nichol Brinkman said...

Amber, ewww!

Bozoette,
Iyiyiyiyi!!! That is ADORABLE!

Leeanna Butcher said...

SO sweet! I will have to add her to my list of favorite photos over on flickr! Love the little tail in the back... :D

Stela said...

Simply adorable!!!