Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake: DVD for ballet-loving preschoolers

The possession of double X chromosomes often correlates with two other genetic conditions: Princess Mania and Ballet Obsession. Such has always been the case with my daughter, despite my lack of girliness.

She saw her first real live ballerina at age 2, when we happened upon a free mini-performance of the Oregon Ballet Theater. Since then, she's been hooked.

So, I was excited to pull my daughter into service helping me review Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake. This sweet DVD treats ballet-loving preschoolers to an abridged and narrated version of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, as performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. The plot of each act is interpreted by Prima Princessa, an animated fairy princess ballerina, followed by simple ballet vocabulary lessons, video of young ballet students (both boys and girls, which I appreciated), and tutu shots of cute preschoolers hopping around in the grass.

The DVD strikes a good balance between education and entertainment, and doesn't go over-the-top precious. Prima Princessa never gets in the way of the actual ballet (in other words, I enjoyed watching it), and the breaks between acts give preschoolers the perfect opportunity to jump up and dance. Even more impressive: the DVD was produced by two New Jersey moms with no prior filmmaking experience. And (of course) my daughter loved it.

Check out the Prima Princessa site to watch a DVD clip, print out free coloring pages, or to enter the TutuZone (the founders' blog). You can purchase the DVD at the Prima Princessa site, or from Amazon.com.

Win it! Don your tutus and get in the running for a copy of Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake! I'll choose one Parenthacker at random who answers the following question in the comments:

Have you ever been surprised by the extent of your kid's "girliness" or "boyishness"?

I'll post the winner tomorrow, 4/3, at 3pm PST. Good luck!

EDITED 4/2 7PM PST: Um, oops. I jumped the gun, closed comments at 3-ish PM TODAY, and picked a winner 24 hours early. Which is great for Piseco, but disappointing to everyone else who's only reading this now! So, comments are open again till 3pm tomorrow (4/3) and I'll pick a second winner! Carry on!

Comments

[a.m.]

Yes! Still surprised by how 'girly' she is since I am not very girly!

[Sonia]

Yes! My little boy is all about cars and trucks and balls and we have done NOTHING to encourage it. I was quite surprised that he was naturally attracted to normal boy things. He also has this sweet aggression thing where he likes to box (playfully), growl, and most recently laugh after he burps (wonder where he got that from?). He's boy, through and through.

[MamaChristy]

I remember thinking when I son was jst a year old at how very "boyish" his desires were. When given a doll and a truck to play with, he went with the truck every. time.

[Lisa]

My daughter suprises me everyday and oh how she loves to dance!!!

[kirsten]

yes, and no. my daughter's first word was 'truck' and she got a huge semi truck toy for her 2nd Christmas. but she is SO girly, too.

my son was always pushing the remote around the floor like a car - he was all boy from day one.

[michaela]

My almost 2-year-old daughter is absolutely obsessed with caring for her Little People and stuffies; I am choosing not to see that as "girly-ness" but as a reflection of how well cared for she feels.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[maya]

I'm not often surprised - I'm thrilled. I relish her girliness! I still do things to balance it like getting her trucks and a tool set and stuff like that to play with, but I love that she loves to be girly and look forward to exploring it with her more.

[Raven]

Yes, my daughter has been girly from the start, which wasn't too long ago since she's only 19 mos. old. Daintily crossing her feet at the ankles, hugging and conversing with her baby doll, and dancing around like a little ballerina. But she will not keep a headband on for the life of her. Maybe she isn't that girly after all...

[stmada]

My son is quite the metrosexual. When his little sisters friend wears red slippers with the purple princess dress he tells her that she can't wear those because they don't match. Then he proclaims he is going to make hairbows for boys, in red of course. Thankfully, he then decided against the idea, opining that it was too silly.

[Jess]

I've been more surprised by my daughter's range. On the one hand, she's very pink-and-sparkly, particularly in her wardrobe. Yesterday, she went absolutely insane with joy when I suggested that we get her some sparkly pink crocs. On the other hand, right before her fifth birthday, she kept asking to take karate. Finally, I enrolled her in a school. She loves it, is thriving, and will be testing for her yellow belt within the next month or two. I never would have thought that my little girly-girl would take to martial arts as much as she has!

[Piseco]

I've definitely been surprised! I grew up in a gender-equality is gender-neutrality kind of household, and I knew I'd encourage any activity in my kids, regardless of whether it fit their genders. My kids have definitely shown me that they came "programmed" with strong tendencies toward the stereotypical activities for their genders!

[andrea]

I'm often surprised by my daughters "girlie-ness" because she's an odd mix of tomboy and princess.

She likes to dress super-girly and then go climb a tree or dig in the dirt. She plays princesses but the princesses may be on an expidition to the North Pole.

[tulip]

Yes! I am suprised everday at the pink pony ballerina girl that I have birthed. She sure doesn't get it from me!! :)
If we don't win I'm going to be buying this one I think!

[Mir]

Well, he's only 3 months old but since he was born many people have taken one look at him and said, "he's all boy!" I'm still trying to figure out what they mean... But my niece, who would ADORE this DVD is quite a mixture of girlyness (loves ballet and mermaids) and boyishness (rough-houses with the best of 'em.)

[Adam R]

I'm often taken aback by what seems like pre-programmed girliness in my 4-yr-old daughter. From as early as I can remember, she has wanted to dance in her dress up costumes, pretending to be a bride, a ballet princess, a princess fairy, a ballet princess fairy bride (you get the idea).

While the rivalry (with mom and her sisters) to be the "most beautiful" has already reared its face, her romantic tendencies are constant points of amusement for her mother and I. She has already started planning her wedding and having a husband (sometimes her 'Prince Charming' is supposedly her 3-yr-old sister!).

[Jean C]

I don't wear makeup and dress very low-key so it really surprised me when my daughter wanted to get fake make up and jewelry.

[meredith]

My real amazement is how girly she is when I am the least girly-girl on the planet.
Two years ago, when she was 2, she came to me and insisted on ponytails. We had never done anything to her hair before. But that day, she not only had 2 ponytails but 4 or 5 glittery clips as well. I was simply stunned!

[rednexmama]

I don't know how this happened but she is SOOOOO girlie! We've never encouraged it, but I make a point to just go with whatever interests her, and for the longest time it's been sparkly, fluffy, and EVERYTHING pricess (which she hilariously refers to by the general title of "Ellas" ie. Cinderella. I dare you: tell her the mermaid's name is Ariel not Ella!)

[Corey]

Yes, the most recent was when she lined up her Disney Princess figurines (ugh) and told me the ones that weren't wearing big poofy skirts weren't allowed to dance. Nice.

[Monera Mason]

So I am a bay area mom with heavy feminist overtones. I have two girls. With my first daughter , Isabella who is named for one of the most powerful women to walk the earth, I was determined that she would be introduced into life with no societal gender bias. No dolls, or play that introduced female nurturing roles. No pink, no princess, and really no mass media toys which featured any one on tv. When she cried I told her stories of powerful women and read from manifesto's of strong girls. All to no avail.

Since she did not have a doll to feed and baby, she picked any of her toys(a stuffed Leonardo da Vinci) and nurtured him. Then she had a sister and she was a little mommy, even at 14 months. We did not encourage it she just surprised us.

It made me take a hard look at some gender politics. Maybe there is a balance between nurturing types and whatever men are. Maybe it doesn't have to be gender specific, but if it happens to be thats okay too.

[PsychMamma]

I have been constantly amazed by my little girl's "girliness." I have never been that keen on pink, purple, glitter and lace and have never had much stuff available for her that screams "girly." Somehow, now that she's older and forming her very own (very strong 2 y/o) opinions, she's drawn to glitter, pink, purple, and anything "frou-frou" like a moth is drawn to a flame. Sigh. It's actually cute and fun and we have more pink things than I ever dreamed we'd have. We'll just wait to see where she goes with it as she grows. At least she also likes trucks and bugs and frogs, etc. :-)

[jennifer]

my 4yr old is very girly and i'm suprised by her 'boyisness'- she loves t owear camo like daddy!

[Nichole]

My 3-year old really surprises me. She is all about all things girly, but she loves playing with cars. It is really cute to see her dressed as Cinderella with high heels and a tiara squatting on the floor playing with cars.

[mama2etc]

I love the crazy mix that my 4yo daughter is, as the baby sister of two athletic brothers. Last Saturday at her instructional hockey class I watched her skate around like a demon in her pink jersey and sparkly cat sticker-covered helmet, with pink laces in her skates. She came to a precise hickey stop in front of a little boy who had fallen down, picked him up, and mothered him all the way back to the coach.

But her very-best-baby-doll Spiderman is the ultimate!

[Whitney H.]

I have two girls- 1 1/2 and 4- and I am amazed at how different they are from each other while still both being incredibly girly. I was raised with 4 brothers and am definitely not the girly girl type so I really didn't expect it when my first daughter got caught up in babies and ballet and barbies...and boys! Now my second is a little more adventurous and wild, but give her a baby doll and she has to tend to it like a little mama hen. How funny!