Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Nutcracker!



This weekend was all Nutcracker all the time.

The dance studio where Rebecca and Lily dance performs the Nutcracker and both kids danced in it this weekend.

Friday night found us at the dress rehearsal.

Saturday night was the first performance of the Nutcracker. I love attending the Saturday night performance because it's a little like being on a date with David. I get all dressed up and then we watch our girls dance.

I adore watching all of the girls dance. The youngest dancers are four years old.

Do you have any idea how cute a bunch of four year old girls dressed as fairies are? I almost died from the cute.

The oldest dancers are seventeen. It is extraordinary to see the complete transformation of dancers. The youngest are led on stage and through their dances. As the older girls appear on stage you can see them becoming more focused and steady in their steps. By thirteen and fourteen they can dance and smile at the same time. Their movements are more confident.

The sixteen and seventeen year old's bring down the house. Some rise high en pointe. They smile and dance with a grace which appears effortless, yet every audience member knows that to stand on one's toes, to leap from ten short digits is the product of work, pain and dedication.

When the older girls dance onstage in solos, they are cheered from backstage by their friends.

Those whoops and shrieks of joy for each other bring me to tears each and every time.

It is a thrill to witness it.

I know that Christine, the owner of the dance studio reads this blog.

The rest of you should know that the reason her studio is so special is because of the culture she cultivates.

There are no demands that dancers be thin or plan on becoming professionals. She wants the children to love to dance and to love the people with whom they dance. She knows every dancer at her studio by name and at the end of the year everyone gets a medal.

Mothers sometimes tell me about what goes on at other studios. Dancing is work, form must be perfect; it can be a grim business.

I am so so grateful that my girls are part of such a great place, and look forward to moving their bodies, each year with a little more grace and a bit more confidence than the year before.

Thank you Christine and Lauren (Nutcracker in the picture and dance instructor) for loving my girls so much and for making sure that each year they keep on dancing.

6 comments:

Pom Pom said...

Oh, how fantastic! Dancing IS a joy! I loved it when I was a kid and the shows at the end of the year were filled with all kinds of nervous glee! Your girls look like they are on Cloud Nine! Yes, what a find - your studio! It's as it should be! My brother and sister-in-law took the whole Nutcracker kit (tutus, tights, ect.) to a Mexican orphanage a few years ago. My niece was spending some time there helping and she taught the children Nutcracker dances (she'd been in numerous Nutcrackers at her childhood studio) and they all had that same glow of happiness that your girls are wearing on their cute faces! You are such a lover of people, Sara! You value the commitment of friends and model that for your daughters. What a sweet post! I shall listen to The Sugar Plum Fairy this morning! (BIG HUG!)

Lisa said...

Bravo!!! I am so glad your girls are having this wonderful experience!! The pictures are great!
Thanks for Sharing!
Hugs, Lisa

Anonymous said...

Sara,
Thank you so much for this post. It meant the world to me! I had tears in my eyes reading it.

It is so wonderful to have people who just "get it"

I feel so honored to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful children & families, and I love the Nutcracker just as much as they do!!!

Thanks for making my day!!

Hugs :)
Christine

Ginger said...

How lucky your girls are to be able to take dance lessons and really enjoy it. I think it's neat what you said about you and David watching them dance and feeling like you are on a date. Ahhh sweet.
I was a dancer for years when I was young and I just loved it. Continued on into adult hood, just a different kind of dance. Then I married a man who can't dance any way shape or form.
Go figure.

Julie said...

I loved ballet and dancing on my toes. Hurt like heck. I always failed the vocabulary quiz they gave us. It was about passion for dance not vocabulary.

BTW I tried a toblerone bar based on your recommendation and I hated it. I know, I should be banned from your blog.

mgster said...

How wonderful for you! And what better music to dance to than the Nutcracker. You brought back such sweet memories of watching my own daughter, Amy, dance from grade 1 to grade 8. Luckily her teacher shared the same theory about children dancing as Rebecca and Lily's teacher. I remember that there were some parents who grumbled about how long the recital was. And it was long...but for me...not long enough! I loved each and ever number from the tiny tots to the teen solos. I am not surprised that you love the show and also enjoy it...that's just who you are and why I so enjoy your blog!