Ever wanted to create your own Ballet Theatre with a spinning ballerina, curtains, lights, and music? Well by following these instructions you can make exactly what is shown in just a few steps. Some materials will include wood (various sizes), an old t-shirt, a plastic piece, a full-spectrum laser, wood glue, a power drill, two arduinos, some LED lights, a motor, and a computer.

Step 1: Setting the Stage

To "set the stage," find an 8x11' piece of wood that is of medium thickness. This will be the base for the entire stage. Then, get three thinner pieces of wood; one 7x11 and the other two 7x5. The 7x11 piece of wood will be the back of the stage and the two smallest pieces will be the sides. Painting the wood is not necessary, however we decided to paint it black to make the stage more realistic. Finally, use wood glue to secure all the pieces together as shown in the picture provided. Leave ample amount of time for drying and you will have "set the stage!"

Step 2: Ballerina Recruitment

To "hire"/ create a ballerina, find a picture of a dancer with a white background. Use the software Corel Draw to get the outline of the dancer extracted from the image that is chosen. Then program a full spectrum laser to cut the image of the ballerina outline into a piece of plastic. Repeat this two additional times to ensure that the plastic is cut all the way through. After doing so, remove your ballerina from the laser and now you have a cutout of a ballerina!

Step 3: Putting the Ballerina "on Her Toes"

To make the ballerina spin, we took the code from circuit 8 in the arduino book and then we modified it slightly so that we could start and stop the program with the press of a button. Finally, hot glue the ballerina to a 3D printed platform placed on top of the motor that was just created. Be sure to glue her facing the right direction so that she isn't spinning backwards.

Step 4: Raising the Platform

To hide the motor from view, take a thin piece of wood about the same length as the base of the stage but half the width and glue it on top of two support beams. This hides the motor and its wires while making it appear as if the ballerina is spinning on stage.

Step 5: Lights, Camera, Action!

We programmed 6 blinking lights. In order for the wire to be the desired length, we had to solder the wires with more wires. We then drilled holes in the back of the stage to attach the lights.

Step 6: Hanging the Curtains

After cutting a t shirt into curtain sized rectangles, we created a loop in the fabric for our curtain rod to go through. Then, we scrunched the fabric to create a draped effect. Finally, we tied the curtains and glued the rod to the top of our stage.