Nutcracker: An Amazing First!

Since Gwen has taken ballet for going on 2 years now and has shown a love for expanding her abilities in dance, AND since she gets an ever-so-slight discount for being a Balletmet student (meaning, she takes her lessons in a school staffed by the same professional ballet company that astounds all of Columbus with their amazing performances year after year!), we decided she should see her first live ballet performance!

And what better first ballet than that of The Nutcracker?

We surprised her with our plans just a few days before the event, mostly so she could become very absorbed in our copy of the story, memorize all the various dances, and be prepared to inform me that they switched up the order on a couple things or whisper anxiously "that wasn't in the book!" when a character like Grandma was introduced or when Mother Ginger was played by a man!

So excited! The rest of these photos are courtesy of my friend, Wendy, who can be credited for suggesting the outing for our daughters, driving our party downtown, bringing chocolate graham crackers to share, and just being excellent company for the production. She also had a camera where I did not. :)

The Grand Theatre downtown is VERY late Baroque, very ornate, and even had people taking photos in the bathrooms because of the fancy tapestry and chandelier! Gwen was duly impressed with all of it. A little too much gold and brocade for my personal tastes, but it contributed to the 'specialness' of the occasion for Gwen. She really thought she was at a pretty fancy princess event!

She got to have her picture taken with the Mouse King and the Sugar Plum Fairy! 

Actually, OUR Sugar Plum Fairy was Asian, but I didn't point out this fact to Gwen, who didn't notice the discrepancy.
I loved Herr Drosselmeier's mechanical doll (the interpretation of dance as a mechanized toy was really fabulous!), the snowflakes with their handfuls of glittery snow, and the brilliant use of a huge silk sheet during the Arabian dance that created such interesting compositions!
But for the record, I have to say our Sugar Plum Fairy performed the most stunning solo dance I've ever seen! I get the impression that matinees are usually the less-prominent dancers and that the big stars are saved for the evening performances (which would make sense), but I honestly can't imagine a more artfully done performance than the one that our SPF gave us! Well done, bravo! I'm incredibly glad I got to see this lovely ballet! (Let's be honest, taking Gwen was really just a cover so I had an excuse to go! lol!)