The Nutcracker

Caralie is finally old enough to appreciate some finer things and so I was determined to take her to see the Nutcracker this year. Ballet Etudes performs at the Mesa Arts Center and we barely made it on time (no surprise there). There was no flash photography allowed so most of these photos are grainy, sorry.

Here's the stage just before the show started:


Caralie was so excited and kept asking every 10 seconds, "When is it going to start?!"


I wish these photos could do justice to the costumes, set, and performances. It was a feast for the eyes, let me tell you! About 5 minutes in Caralie asked me, "Why aren't they talking?"

They even had some pyrotechnics for the battle with the mouse king, which I didn't get a photo of.



The Sugar Plum Fairy - I mean PRINCESS. Caralie insists she's a princess. I blame Barbie.


And here is Mother Ginger:

I missed the chance to take a photo of all the little children that come out of her dress.

The flowers:


And Dew Drop:

It was so beautiful to watch!



During intermission I bought two backstage passes for Caralie and myself. After the show, we met backstage and were shown Mother Ginger's skirt. Caralie and all the little girls got to go underneath it and move it back and forth:


Then the stage manager took us on stage and taught us about stage right and stage left (I already knew this stuff from drama in high school). They also brought out the fog machine which scared a couple of timid kids but Caralie thought it was cool. Then they made it snow and we had to guess what the snow was made out of and I got it right! Mashed potato flakes mixed with glitter.

After that we met part of the cast:


Caralie immediately went up to the young lady who played the Arabian:

I was surprised that she was Caralie's first choice to meet, but glad too because I liked her dance the best of all.

We also met the Sugar Plum Fairy Princess:


And Spanish:

Then Caralie was allowed to climb up and sit on the royal throne:



Then she sat in the sleigh that Clara and the Prince take to ... Candy Land?

After pictures, we were shown some of the costumes (Dew Drop's costume alone cost over $1,000).

It was a great tour and Caralie really enjoyed meeting the dancers. I asked her later if she wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up and she surprised me by saying, "No, I don't want cracked and bloody toes." Where she learned about that I have no idea, but I can't blame her. Plus this saves me a lot of time and money....

I'm hoping we are financially solvent enough each year to make this a new tradition. At some point when she is a little older we'll go to the "fancy" Nutcracker with the live orchestra and everything.

If you haven't been to see the Nutcracker, I highly recommend it. If you have small children, go on a Saturday afternoon - they expect a younger audience at that time. It's a great opportunity to expose your children to the arts.