After just one year of dancing, she has her sights set on Julliard. Chloe spends four days a week in the dance studio, learning everything from jazz to ballet to lyrical dance, and this past Sunday she had her first Christmas recital. Then, on Tuesday, as a Christmas present from her older sister, ten-year-old Chloe put on another recital at Rockefeller Gardens Park — just for the camera. Well, and for a few teenaged boys who stopped skateboarding to gape at Chloe’s incredible flexibility, whispering back and forth to each other, “Whoa!” and “That looks so painful!”

Chloe admits that some of what she does for her art isn’t particularly comfortable. But she’s willing to work on it, because dance is what she loves and wants to do well. Something else she did well: Working the camera. It’s not every ‘tween who, when someone with a camera says, “I’m going to get some head shots of you now,” automatically looks off into the distance with a dreamy smile on her face. Her modeling savvy, along with her dancing, made her lifestyle portrait session a breeze, and so much fun.

Thank you, Chloe for making the afternoon by the river even more beautiful, and thank you Chelsea for thinking of me when you were planning Chloe’s Christmas present! Meet Chloe. Her determination and drive to perform well are etched on her face . . . but she doesn’t take dancing so seriously that she was afraid to kick back and laugh a little during our shoot. In fact, we laughed a lot. I couldn’t have asked for better light — or a better model. Chloe, are you sure you haven’t done the whole modeling thing before? Is Chloe flexible? Is a piece of haystring flexible? The answer was obviously a resounding “yes!” No wonder those skateboarder boys were amazed. After she performed her lyrical dance routine, Chloe made a quick costume change into her ballet clothes — and this is where the shoot got really dreamy. I wish I’d had an outfit like this one to dress up in when I was a kid! She was exquisite, and couldn’t possibly have looked any sweeter.  Although I’m prone to changing my mind every few minutes, I believe the two pictures above and the one below are my favorites. With one last costume change, Chloe was ready for her jazz routine. And a little “stage mom” help from her sister Chelsea. Merry Christmas, Chloe! I hope you enjoyed your present — and I hope you’ll enjoy it for years to come!

Note: I only release the names of minors with parental consent.

~ Laura