I love the ballet. I hope that G will enjoy it too. So far she really seems to! Last year we went to see the Nutcracker with my mom and G really liked it. I was surprised by her level of interest and her ability to sit through a 90 min performance. It definitely seemed like the beginning of a Christmas time tradition.
I was so impressed by the show we saw at Bridges Auditorium last year I thought maybe we'd try it again. In preparation I bought a simple book telling the story of Clara and read through it with G several times in the days leading up to the show. I find with ballet and opera the performance is much more enjoyable if you know the story beforehand.
Once again it was a great show. Beautiful costumes, very professional performance. Again, G enjoyed the show. Such a great thing for "the gurlz" to do together :-)
G striking another of her fantastic poses while waiting for the ballet to begin.
With Grandma of course.
Bridges is a really old and very beautiful theater on the campus of Scripps. It would be fun to see anything there.
Official "gurlz" pic
G loved these large nutcrackers they had set up in the lobby as decoration and wanted to pose with each of them.
More waiting with Grandma. Waiting is considerably easier to do when you have skittles to munch on.
G does love a character. So of course after the show we waited to see them. Here she is with the Prince/Nutcracker. Interestingly enough, the Prince was not the first character we waited to see. That would be the Sugarplum Fairy. When I asked G which dancer she wanted to meet, Sugarplum was her first choice. She seemed really excited to see her so we waited in line about 3-4 mins. We were next to go up when suddenly G decided she no longer wanted to meet her. I really have no idea why. She seemed like a very nice and pleasant young woman. Dunno, G does these things sometimes. No rhyme or reason I can find.
I don't remember what part this girl played. Maybe an angel??
G's favorite part of the story is when Mother Ginger comes out and all the little children (or in this version of the Nutcracker, gumdrop and peppermint candies) come out of her pettiskirt. G caught sight of the girls dressed like sweets and followed them around the lobby. Too funny.
Little gumdrop. These girls are only about 6 yrs old.
Some of the Chinese dancers. The dragon dance during the Chinese portion of the ballet is my favorite scene. Its incredibly well done.
The toy soldiers. Last year G was bothered when Nutcracker killed the Mouse King. This year, since we'd been reading the book, she was prepared and not really bothered.
And finally, with Clara. She did a wonderful job. While watching the show its easy to forget that its being performed by students (well except the gumdrops, they're just cute!) because the performance is very professionally done.
I think this dancer was supposed to be one of the flowers.
I think a family tradition has been established. I can envision an annual trip to see the Nutcracker in our future.
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