Prima Princessa's TutuZone

Short Pump Preppy

Thanks Short Pump Preppy for the great review!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Prima Princessa DVD Giveaway!!

I know...how cute! If you are looking for the perfect little dancing video for girls ages 3-7, look no further! When the producers asked me if I would like to preview the video, I was so excited. My girls are teens, but had taken ballet. So we invited the neighbor's girls over to watch and I can tell you, I'll never see that copy of the DVD again!

Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake features the Paris Opera Ballet and Students from School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, Official Academy of New York City Ballet. This 40 minute DVD is a beautiful show with a brain. Prima Princessa, an animated fairy ballerina, magically transports a group of little girls to see the Paris Opera Ballet performs select segments of Swan Lake. In between acts, the children return home to learn simple ballet steps which are playfully shown mixed into colorful montages of toys, animals, children and young dancers from the School of American Ballet.

Stephanie Troeller, and Mary Kate Mellow are both stay-at-home moms who teamed up to produce "Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake". They were both inspired by their children's love of dance as well as a desire to see higher quality, culturally enriching programming available for young children.

The show is broken up into segments, each short enough to keep the attention of the young ones, and long enough to appeal to the older girls. I can see this being a great intro to ballet video for the child just deciding to take classes or a fun dance-along for children already involved in programs. And it would be fun for girls just wanting to dance. My daughter had a ball dancing with the neighbors and it was a cute fest all around.


And if the neighbors' dancing in the yard down the street is any indication, this is a winner!

 

Fun Movies for Kids

This weekend is supposed to be very cold. There is nothing like a good family movie on a cold or rainy weekend. We are planning to watch Tinkerbell. That's my daughter's choice of course. I remember loving Tinkerbell when I was little. I think it is great that Tinkerbell is back! My daughter's good friend has already watched Tinkerbell about 4 times. I have a feeling Tinkerbell will be very popular over here too! To watch a preview go here.

My son has been angling for Kong Fu Panda. How we managed to miss Kung Fu Panda when it was out. There was so much hype for that movie. Two movies in one weekend is too much for us. So Kung Fu Panda will just have to wait

Mary Kate

Prima Princessa Productions- home of "Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD" a great DVD for little girls who love pink, sparkles, ballet and more. Makes a great gift for girls.

Pink With Sparkles

We are thrilled to be reviewed on Pink With Sparkles! This site is adorable!

-Prima Princessa Productions

The review:

  Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake!

November 21, 2008

40 minutes of ballerina fairy fun!  Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake DVD is a narrated DVD featuring preschool girls, an animated fairy, students from the School of American Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet.

The girls and I were mesmerized by the graceful ballet dancers and loved the narration!  Having the story explained as the dance was being performed really kept the girls’ attention.

Learning the ballet terminology was fun- including some fancy words we don’t hear in dance class.

Makes a great stocking stuffer!  Order Prima Princessa on Amazon today!

Check out the giveaway on TuTuZone Blog now to win the DVD and a fairy princess dress up set.

 

Citrus

Thanks to Citrus for the wonderful review! We really enjoy your blog.

-Prima Princessa Productions

The review:

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Prima Princessa

Little ballerinas in your house? I have two, and they are loving this video. Prima Princessa tells the story of Swan Lake through actual footage from the Swan Lake production performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. That's right, your child will watch a formal ballet being performed, enjoy it....and ask you to watch it again and again (even my son asks for it).

Prima Princessa keeps the formal ballet exciting by cutting away frequently to girls playing in tutus (practicing moves learned from the video), a display of proper ballet form by young ballerinas at the School of American Ballet here in New York City, and a flying cartoon fairy (that will drive you crazy, but your kids will eat it up). To see a video clip of what to expect, click here.

I am hoping to take my 5 and 6 year-old daughters to a ballet here in NYC within the next year, and thought I should give them a small dosage of what to expect. This has given me a little more reassurance that they would enjoy it.

If your child is interested in, or is currently taking ballet, Prima Princessa will be guaranteed fun and excitement.

Thrifty Domestica

Thanks to the Thrifty Domestica for her review today on our DVD, Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake. This is good blog to check out for very helpful money saving tips for the family. -Prima Princessa Productions.

Here's the review:

Have you heard about this wonderful DVD?  My daughter is only 1, so I am not yet running in the "princess craze" circles yet, but when I saw this 40 minuet movie, I immediately could appreciate the educational value, as well as the quality and thoughtfulness of the production.  

They combine a good use of repetition and variety to keep kids entertained, yet reinforce some choice ballet movements (jete', pirouette, etc.) for energetic ballet beginners.  

A good part of the movie is excerpts from the Paris Opera Ballet's performance of Swan Lake, with the fairy narrating the story of what is going on.  It's nice way to introduce professional ballet because the dancing is beautiful and mesmerizing, and they are learning the classical story that goes along with Swan Lake.

During the breaks between the 4 acts of Swan Lake, they interject some "ballet play time" where the little ballerinas watching the Swan Lake performance get up and dance to the music.  Mixed in with this, they use young-ish students of the School of American Ballet to model the ballet concepts, and mix in some animals and toys to reinforce the vocabulary and action.   

My 3 year old son watched it with me, and afterwards I asked him if he liked it and what his favorite part was.  He said that he did like it, but instead of identifying the prince as his favorite, as I expected, instead he said that he like watching the little girls (who have fun pirouetting and and so forth between the acts).  I thought that was interesting, since he didn't get up and dance with them, (he's not much of a dancer type) but I could certainly see that for most little girls, watching this movie would be a perfect "tutu time" to put on their tutus and dance along with the little girls and the music.

Another really cool thing about this movie is that it was created by two stay at home moms, Mary Kate Mellow and Stephanie Troeller, out of their passion to provide an educational and cultural experience for their own budding ballerinas.  What awesome motivation, and what a great achievement!  I love it when moms are amazing!

What's even more amazing is that they are doing a giveaway on their blog TutuZone that includes an incredible prize!  You get the Swan Lake DVD, a white swan princess dress up set, a cute stuffed swan (dancing partner?).  This giveaway ends December 5th, and all you need to do to win is go to their blog post at TutuZone and leave a comment that includes a way for them to contact you if you win. (It's so annoying when someone wins your giveaway, and you have no way to tell them!) It's also polite to say "thanks for the giveaway" and "you guys are awesome" type stuff in your comment too. *wink* But mainly don't forget to leave your e-mail address!  Okay, go comment! (Well, you can comment here too.  A nice, "thanks for the great tip, Thrifty" is always appreciated!)

There are a lot of people registered to win, so if you know a little girl that just HAS to have this video, you can click above to buy it from amazon.  Yeah, I would give you mine, but my niece has dibs until my daughter is big enough for it!

Daring Young Mom

We love this new review from Daring Young Mom!

Prima Princessa Ballet Giveaway

Published by The Daring One

Nov 09

Laylee is loving everything ballet. She loves the shoes, the tutus, the music, the finger positions and even the little fakey twittering giggle that apparently ballerinas must make as they flit about.

We had tried putting her in a class when she was 3ish and it was fun but not in the same way as it’s fun right now. Now ballet is life and she wants nothing more than to dance like the big ballerinas when she grows up, preferably next week.

So I was excited when I heard from Stephanie Troeller, one of the mom masterminds behind Prima Princessa, a series of ballet videos for young girls. I love moms who come up with a good idea and follow through with it and I love Laylee and Laylee loves ballet so the triangle of mutual love was complete when Stephanie sent me a copy of her movie in the mail.

The DVD they sent me was Swan Lake. It features a Cliffs Notes version of Swan Lake as performed by the Paris Opera Ballet as narrated by a squeaky-voiced cartoon ballerina fairy. Although the voice is annoying, the scripting is decent and she gives a succinct telling of the story that young audiences can grasp. The dancing is beautiful and the play is broken up into acts. Between each act are teaching segments that show skilled young students from the School of American Ballet followed by preschool girls practicing the various moves as seen in Swan Lake.

There’s a bit of Baby Mozart-esque montage that goes on to reinforce the various movements but for the most part it sticks to dancing, the part we like the best. I was a little worried that Laylee wouldn’t like it because the preschool girls were too young for her. She’s 5. But it turns out she LOVES the preschool dancers because she’s “SO MUCH BETTER THAN THEM.” And sweet and humble too.

In the video she sees where she was, where she hopes to be someday soon and where she will be in her wildest dreams.

It’s fun, she loves it with a passionate love and uses it to guide her drills of various moves she’s learning in class. I actually think it’s played a significant part in her dance improvement.

To top it all off, I have a copy for one of you. If any of you have a little girl in your life who’s just aching to be a ballerina, I guarantee she’ll love this video so even if you don’t win, consider buying it for a Christmas gift.

 

Petroville

Thanks to Petroville for the reviewand suggesting Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake as a great holiday gift!- Prima Princessa Productions

Saturday, November 8th 2008

Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake is a 40-minute DVD for children 3-7, with an animated fairy ballerina who magically transports a group of little girls to see the world famous Paris Opera Ballet perform Swan Lake. The show is cleverly abbreviated for kids and narrated beautifully by an adorable cartoon ballerina. Between acts, the children return home to learn simple ballet steps, which are playfully shown mixed into colorful montages of toys, animals, children and young dancers from the School of American Ballet, the official academy of the New York City Ballet.

This enchanting fairytale was created by Mary Kate Mellow and Stephanie Troeller, two brilliant stay-at-home moms from New Jersey and would be a perfect gift for the holidays.

My kids loved it - yours will too!

Visit Prima Princessa and order your copy today!

 

Daily Dose of Toni

 Thanks Toni for the review on your awesome blog! -Prima Princessa Productions

 

Prima Princess Presents Swan Lake

When I was contacted by Mary Kate of Prima Princessa and Tutu Zone and asked if I would like to review their new video, Prima Princessa Presents: Swan Lake there was not a hesitation at all. Having taken dance for 15 years, I love anything that is dance related and the fact that this DVD was made in such a way that my 3 year old would enjoy it as well just made it all the better. Not to mention my daughter thinks she is going to be the next principal dancer for the New York City Ballet.

Prima Princess was produced by Mary Kate Mellow and Stephanie Troeller who are both stay-at-home moms who despite no prior movie-making experience teamed up to produce this show. They were both inspired by their children's love of dance.

From the producer in an email:
"Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake" is a hip new ballet DVD for kids featuring the Paris Opera Ballet and Students from School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, Official Academy of New York City Ballet. Our 40 minute DVD is a cool, fun, beautiful show with a brain. Prima Princessa, an animated fairy ballerina, magically transports a group of little girls to see the Paris Opera Ballet performs select segments of Swan Lake. In between acts, the children return home to learn simple ballet steps which are playfully shown mixed into colorful montages of toys, animals, children and young dancers from the School of American Ballet. This children's ballet DVD makes a great gift for young kids.

The description sent to me in the email, had me a little leery I will say. I though there is no way my daughter is going to sit and enjoy a 40 minute video even if there is dancing in it and I was completely wrong! My daughter was taken in from the moment it began and did not quit watching until it was over. It was perfect!

Prima Princessa had four short acts from Swan Lake, enough to tell the story yet not too much that was overwhelming for a 3 year old. The dancing was of course magnificent. It is narrated by an animated ballerina and my daughter absolutely loved watching her and listening to her. In fact she would run up to the television every time the narrator was shown.

After each act there was an intermission where the little girls on the video, as well as dancers in a studio showed you some of the basic steps in ballet such as a jete, grande battement, and pirouette. My daughter watched and tried to do everything just as they were showing. Though not with the greatest of ease but she still caught on and was able to do all the moves. She giggled along with the little girls doing the moves on t.v.

This is definitely a DVD I would recommend if you are someone who has a daughter. If it can be enjoyed by my daughter and make her show her girly side, she has two older brothers so girly is not seen often in this house, then it will be perfect for any little girl out there. Even if you are not a little girl you may still enjoy it, I know I did and I will be watching it again for sure, with or without my daughter.

For more information please visit Prima Princessa

http://www.juststopscreaming.com/2008/11/prima-princess-presents-swan-lake.html

Cool Baby Kid Holiday Edition 2008

   Cool Baby Kid's Holiday Edition 2008 is out! This edition is a great place for awesome holiday finds. We are happy to see "Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake" made the cut!

-Prima Princessa Productions

Preschooler Stuff

Try this online site, Preschooler Stuff, for our DVD and more preschool stuff!