Prima Princessa's TutuZone

Rockin Mama Blog Review

Thanks Rockin Mama for the rockin review!p> -Prima Princessa Productions

Shhh…Don’t Tell!

Posted on August 21, 2008 by sweetnlow121

I let my son watch ballet!  When I was given the opportunity to review Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake recently I hesitated.  I have a little BOY…but after speaking to one of the producers of the show I decided to give it a a go!  After all…there are male ballet dancers.  And guess what…my son and I were both entertained. 

Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake is a great way to introduce children to the beautiful art of ballet.  Prima Princessa, an animated fairy ballerina, magically transports a group of girls to see the Paris Opera Ballet perform segments from Swan Lake.  In between segments young girls AND boys demonstrate ballet steps.  I really like the how each of the steps is related to familiar concepts like toys, animals, and children.  It’s short enough at 40 minutes to hold young children’s attention.

Prima Princessa provides just enough commentary throughout to make it easy for children to understand the story (although I liked watching the dancers with the original music playing in the background).  While I think that children of both genders could watch this, it’s targeted for preschool girls.  Get it now on Amazon for $19.99.

Profuse thanks to Prima Princessa and The Family Review Network for this review opportunity!

5 More Fab Blog Reviews for August

It is great to see how well received our ballet DVD for kids is by parent review blogs. It just goes to show that parents really are looking for culturally enriching programming for their kids. Of course, it has to be entertaining which is what we do over here at Prima Princessa Productions.

From Plain Jane Mom on August 18, 2008: This DVD is an introduction to ballet as well as a great way to gauge your child’s interest in this art form…

From Baby Friendly LA on August 16, 2008: Prima Princessa is a fun way for young girls (and moms too!) to not only experience the beauty and grace of ballet, but to actually learn about the story as well....

From Scribbit on August 16, 2008: Lillian thought it was fun--she was twirling all afternoon....

From 3 P’s Mamma Says on August 12, 2008: When watching something can encourage a love of the Arts in my children, I am all for it!...

From Pure Love on August 9, 2008: And she's watching it over and over again....

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From Mamalicious on August 6, 2008: I would recommend this DVD to anyone with a daughter. The simple and magical way this DVD presents Swan Lake will awaken the little girl in us all...

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From My Trendy Tykes on August 5, 2008: As soon as it arrived I stuck it in the dvd player for LIL PRINCESS and she was thrilled. I can not even describe the look on her face when she saw the little ballerinas come on the screen....

SAHM Reviews Blog

Check out this site for wonderful in depth reviews of products of interest to parents. We are thrilled to have our DVD reviewed by a fellow SAHM (stay-at-home-mom).

Here's the review from Saturday August 9, 2008:

Mom! I'm a Swan!

It's that time of year when we need to register for new activities. The girls are young so we try to rotate the activities and expose them to a variety. This fall, both Miss M and Miss K will be participating in soccer and swimming. Despite my love of dance and my desire to have them follow in my footsteps, I didn't enroll them this year. All last year they did ballet and tap culminating in a spring recital. But I don't want to burn them out at such a tender age. There are plenty of years and opportunities to get involved.

The girls do take after me in that they love to dance. When Stephanie and Mary Kate were looking for people to review Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake, I emphatically waved my digital hand in the air yelling "Pick me! Pick me!" If you have girls, you might have already heard of Prima Princessa. If not, here's the gist - It's a hybrid presentation on DVD. Part entertainment, part education. It may be more appropriate to say that it is education under the guise of entertainment. It consists of a presentation of Swan Lake by The Paris Opera Ballet broken into acts. The acts are further broken up by mini ballet lessons explaining and demonstrating different ballet moves. The entire DVD is narrated by a youth-friendly voice and cartoon fairy princess.

We were visiting my MIL in Alabama when I pulled out the surprise DVD for the girls to watch. I told them it was ballet and they immediately started to dance around. Even as I popped it into the DVD player and started it up, they continued their energetic twirling. I figured they were too wired and not even paying attention. Apparently I was wrong because the second the narrator said "In between each act, you get to dress up in fun pretty tutus" they tore out of the room. I paused to see what the commotion was about, only to find that the girls had raced into the guest room and began to frantically rummage through the chest of dress up clothes that Grammy had purchased for them. A minute later, they returned to the family room all decked out and ready to watch.


Their mouths dropped open and they were mesmerized. Not only did they pay attention to the ballet, but they asked appropriate questions: Miss K - "If he don't (SIC) find her, what's going to happen?" They also repeated the tutorial words like "Peer-oh-ette" and mimicked the student dancers. I tried to take a few pictures but was chastised by Miss M when I tried to get her to hold still for a snapshot. "Mom! I'm a Swan!"

When it was over, Miss M said "I really liked it" and they both exclaimed in unison "I want to do it again." Which they did. Even when my BIL stopped by, they insisted on retelling the story and firing it up again so he could watch it.

Well, as I typed this review (back home again), a neighbor showed up with her 4 year old daughter and 18 month old son, along with two 4 year old girls she was babysitting. After playing outside for a bit, I invited them in and we popped in Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake. If you could only have seen our family room filled with 6 children dancing along with the ballet and students!


The DVD was a hit with all the kids and I enjoyed it as well. I hate to admit that I've never bothered to watch any performance of Swan Lake so it turned out to be a learning experience for me too! I highly recommend this for any family with kids who love to dance.


Stephanie and Mary Kate were so kind as to offer an additional DVD to one of my lucky readers! WooHoo! As always, you'll need to follow some rules to be able to participate. Thankfully, it's easy!

Just A Mom's Take on Things

Thanks for the great review and we love the adorable photos!- Prima Princessa Productions

Here's the review from August 7, 2008:

Review and Giveaway - Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD

Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Deb

There’s something about little girls and dancing that seem to go hand-in-hand. I know that my mom put me in dance classes about as soon as I started elementary school, and I loved twirling, kicking and stepping to the music. And my own girls are no exception.

When I received the opportunity to review the Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD, I knew that my girls would love it. What I didn’t expect was how much they would LOVE it.

What it is:

This DVD is the project of two stay-at-home moms who, inspired by their children’s love of dance, teamed up (despite no prior movie-making experience) to produce it. It’s described as, “a hip new twist on learning about ballet, featuring the Paris Opera Ballet and Students from School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, Official Academy of New York City Ballet”, and as “a cool, fun, beautiful show with a brain”.

The 40-minute DVD features an animated fairy ballerina who takes viewers on a journey to see the Paris Opera Ballet perform select segments of Swan Lake. In between acts, basic ballet steps are shown and there’s an opportunity for kids to get up and dance along to the colorful montages of toys, animals, children and dancers from the School of American ballet.

Here’s my our take on it:

My daughters and I were enchanted by this DVD from the very first moment. The ‘Prima Princessa’ character is fun, cute and engaging - and does a very good job of narrating the ballet scenes for viewers who aren’t familiar with the story of Swan Lake. I haven’t seen the ballet myself - and and the narration really helped to bring the story to life. I also think that my daughters would probably have grown bored of just ballet scenes (as lovely as they are) after a while - but the narration, and the breaks between acts where they could get up and dance themselves, make a huge difference in keeping them interested and excited to watch.

We had to pause the DVD for a few minutes to allow my older girls to change into their ‘ballerina’ outfits. Although we don’t have tutus like the children in the movie, we do have one dance outfit - and my older daughter improvised to create one for herself as well. Then they twirled, leapt, and kicked their way around the living room throughout the rest of the DVD:

Even my 2-year-old wanted to join in and dance with her sisters.

And they’ve asked to watch it again. And again. So far their only disappointment has been when their ‘dance clothes’ aren’t clean for them to wear while watching and dancing. 

The bottom line:

So many movies and videos nowadays just involve passive participation or don’t necessarily do a good job of inspiring kids to actually get up and move. This one not only successfully gets kids moving, but it also introduces them to the world of ballet and educates them on a few simple ballet terms and steps as well. The ballet scenes tell the story of Swan Lake, and also show kids what ballet is really all about - telling a story through dance. I can see children of all ages enjoying this - and although it’s geared more toward girls, there are boy dancers featured in the School of American Ballet segments, and in Swan Lake itself, of course. I can see boys dancing along right with the girls as well.

Babble

We are thrilled to be reviewed by our first dad blogger. "Modern Day Dad" whose review posted on the very hip site for parents, Babble.

Here is the review:

"Taking a break from the (sometimes) mind-numbing confines of Nick Jr. and Noggin can be a good thing, and if you've got a little girl who is deep in the throws of princess mania, you might want to check this out. Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake is a DVD aimed squarely at these little girls, and does something that I wasn't expecting. It doesn't try to teach ballet, nor does it present a professional performance of Swan Lake without explaining what is going on. What it does do quite well is convey the beauty and fun of ballet (and the classical music it is based on) without boring the kids watching it.

The forty minute program is broken down into two alternating parts - one that shows the individual acts of Swan Lake as performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, and then another that shows young girls (and one boy) performing the individual ballet steps. During the Swan Lake segments there is a voice-over explaining what is happening in terms of the story, which not only makes it easy for kids to understand, but also for those of us who don't make it to the ballet as often as we should. The other segments feature children from the School of American Ballet showing the ballet positions and other steps, as well as what those steps are based on.

My four year old daughter seemed to really enjoy the entire program, and even asked me to play it again after it was over. For her it's hard to miss with a princess story and video of young kids doing ballet. My two year old daughter was mildly interested, though it really wasn't the sort of program designed to keep the attention of someone her age. From my perspective, the voice-over (the voice of "Prima Princessa" herself) was a little annoying after a while and the overall production quality still has that "indie video" feel, but having a kids DVD where the soundtrack was entirely made up of classical music was a really nice change of pace.

Overall, I think if you've got a daughter or young girl in your life aged 3 or above who you suspect would probably enjoy something like this, it's a safe bet that she will. At the very least it's worth checking out a clip on the web site."