By HOLLY NADLER

It’s dress rehearsal for the fairies in I Do Believe in Fairies — Journey to Never Never Land, one of two student dance recitals set to dazzle this weekend (the other one is so out of this world, it’s titled Outer Space in 12 Movements).

A gaggle of four-year-olds in pink leotards, pink tutus and silver pre-Raphaelite headbands — the cuteness factor was off the charts! — sit on the lobby floor as helpful moms apply eye shadow, lipstick and blush.

One of the moms tells a ballerina, “Hannah, you look so pretty!”

“I know!” the tot replies happily.

Inside the auditorium, where the show will be performed tonight at 6:30 p.m., dancers display a constant St. Vitus’s twitch of movement. A gang of five and six-year-olds in black leotards and tights lines up at the top of the stage stairs to scootch down the side rail, then up again for another go. Dancers of all ages practice pliés and toursjetés in the aisles, between rows of seats, and in and out of the stage wings.

Moms dive into cardboard boxes and pass out boas, hats and tutus. Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet founder Beth Vages, in platform heels, black leggings and a zebra-pattern mini-dress, takes the littlest dancers through their paces. Next she presses the play button on a tape deck and the symphonic overture for Peter Pan blasts forth.

The scene opens on a London bedroom as Wendy, danced by Ava Thors, 11, in the signature white nightgown, snoozes with her two siblings and a fourth dancer, identified by a furry black wig and painted-on whiskers, as the family dog. Peter Pan, performed by Sarah Pertile, 11, clad in jungle camo, leaps into the room to wake up the kids, followed by Tinkerbell, Megan Mendez, 9, in a gorgeous pale chartreuse dance skirt with matching wings. The six figures prance off to Never Never Land where they join the Lost Boys for a rousing rendition of I’ve Gotta Crow!

In the midst of the storyline, the seven pinkies take the spotlight, entering in the traditional corps de ballet single file, arms in first position. Some achieve this with hands extended overhead, others with hands verging over eyebrows or noses. The tiny girls line up with five in a row, two others positioning themselves several paces afield. They receive direction and encouragement from Tiger Lily, Kendra Frank, 12, in the wings, exquisitely en pointe and dressed in a diaphanous blue gown with a matching blue, flapper-style headband.

Ava, Sarah, Megan and Kendra all demonstrate the benefits of Ms. Vages’s training: while the little ones were beyond adorable, these older dancers exude the grace and adroitness of true ballerinas. Kendra, by the way, is Ms. Vages’s niece and has benefited from her aunt’s teachings starting at the age of three. Next year, Kendra and Sarah will be heading to the most prestigious ballet competition in America, the Youth America Grand Prix in Connecticut.

Ms. Vages, who grew up in Marshfield, trained in New York city with Alvin Ailey, then went on to oversee ballet academies in Cambridge.

Following her Cambridge years, she founded Cape Cod Ballet School (now under new ownership and renamed Atlantic Coast Ballet). She proceeded in 1986 (and continuing annually to this day) to direct the second largest production of The Nutcracker (after the Boston Ballet) in the region, moving the glamorous yuletide dance and play 12 years ago to Martha’s Vineyard. Her weekly classes are conducted at Camp Jabberwocky in Vineyard Haven.

Dancer Laura Sargent Hall also teaches budding dancers big and small — ages 3 to 18 — at Camp Jabberwocky. Her annual Kaleidoscope Dance recital will take place on Sunday, at noon and again at 6 p.m., also at the Performing Arts Center.

The program, showcasing 55 students, revolves around the topic of Outer Space in 12 Movements, featuring such songs as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Stardust and Aurora Borealis.

While Ms. Vages’s passion is all ballet all the time, Ms. Hall favors both modern dance and ballet, and her emphasis is on the joy of movement.

She grew up in Needham, exiting the cradle with what we can only imagine was a Nijinsky-style leap, to dance her way through childhood. She studied all manner of dance including tap, and served as a teacher’s apprentice from the age of 12 onwards. She majored in dance at New York University, then attended Antioch to garner a master’s degree in dance movement therapy.

Ms. Hall moved to the Vineyard in 1991, coincident with meeting her future husband, Brian Hall. She launched her teaching career on Island in 1996. The couple has two children, Ethan 11, and Grace 9, both of whom began dancing at the age of three; they each have a spot in Sunday’s recital. Grace has continued with her mother’s classes. Ethan is more concentrated on gymnastics, but he loves to participate in the annual event.

About her many students and the upcoming show, Ms. Hall said in a phone interview this week, “We’ve been rehearsing forever!”

She has adored every minute of it. “Children love to dance. They love movement and they’re really good at it,” she said.

Ms. Hall reported that her recital audiences have grown steadily, so much so that last year she transferred productions from the Oak Bluffs School to the Performing Arts Center.

“For the kids this is the most exciting time of the year. I feel very close to all my students.”

That jibed with what a proud grandma said at the Peter Pan rehearsal: “For my two granddaughters, the excitement and nervousness are equal to what dancers feel performing on Broadway.”

For Vineyard junior dancers, the lights of Broadway will shine right here on the boards of the high school.

Peter Pan is performed on Friday, June 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center.

Outer Space in 12 Movements is performed on Sunday, June 6, at noon and at 6 p.m., at the Performing Arts Center.