So. The Nutcracker is one of my favorite holiday traditions. So when
Ohio Dance Theatre asked me to write about it I was SUPER EXCITED:
They invited me and several other bloggers to a preview event on Fri. night. We got to see a couple of the dances up close in their studio and then mingle with them afterwards:
Literally as I was walking out the door to the event another blogger tweeted that she was bringing her daughter. I didn't hesitate. I snatched my poor girl from the movie her and he brother were enjoying, threw a dress on her, and ran out the door:
See the girl has been
obsessed with ballet since she started taking lessions. Obsessed.
She flits about the house in her practice shoes (slippers that look like ballet shoes - she's not allowed to wear her real ballet shoes out of dance class). She's forever watching Angelina Ballerina and trying to do the moves. And sometimes when you ask her to do something she responds with a curtsey. Seriously. So this event? BLEW HER MIND:
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| how to make a 4yo ballerina wannabe very, very happy. |
They performed several of the country dances for us along with the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
When the Sugar Plum Fairy came out in her full tutu my girl turned to me, gave me a wide-eyed smile, sat up straighter, smoothed her dress, and crossed her hands in her lap all serious like. Because BALLERINA.
After the dances we had a chance to mingle with the dancers. They all have such interesting stories. Some of them are from northeast Ohio, some from as far away as Texas. All of them were incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. And all of them were really sweet with my girl - one even showed her a new dance move.
We were talking about costume changes - there's alot in the Nutcracker - and I asked the deep question I'm sure everyone is wondering: How do you keep your hair in a bun with all of those costume changes?
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| THIS. |
Yeah. That's alot of bobby pins and hair spray. One dancer told me that she once counted 65 pins in her hair. That's intense.
We are going to see the full performance of the Nutcracker by Ohio Dance Theater on December 20. I can't wait. Based on the preview I think this is going to be a fantastic rendition.
See the Nutcracker is a ballet that is very open to interpretation. Each company has a completely different take and sometimes even uses different pieces of music. I wrote more about that
here. See back in the day - when I didn't have all these kids - my mom and I would travel each year to see a Nutcracker performance. And one decent crucible for if the performance was good is ribbons: If the Chinese Dancers have ribbons? It's a safe bet the rest of the performance is awesome, too.
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| I have only terrible pictures of this dance b/c I was mesmerized by the ribbon. |
According to the dancers the ribbons are super fun. And also build up your arm muscles. Which I thought was hilarious since these ladies are basically made of muscle. Another reason I think this performance is going to be a good one - Guest Artist Daniel Ulbricht is coming in from the New York City Ballet. He will be dancing the pas de deux which is my absolute favorite part of this ballet. I can't wait!
If you want to see the Nutcracker with
Ohio Dance Theatre performances run from
Dec 20-22. You can
purchase tickets here. Such a fun holiday tradition!
Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this event as a blogger. I received a gift bag as well as tickets to see The Nutcracker.
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| bonus pic of my girl and I goofing around while I was cleaning off the car for the drive home. |
