Nutcracker Opening Night

Hey everyone, we finally made it! Tonight was the opening night for Nutcracker. It was so much fun! I made some great friends backstage, and despite all the little problems (our Rat King was sick, so one of the party dads had to step in and learn the dance in 30 mins), it was great.


The girls were all amazing, I am just so happy to have been apart of something this great. I especially loved the Arabian dance, maybe I could try out in a year or two. We have one more show tomorrow, and that'll be the end, at least for this year.


Some pictures:

Here's my mirror, all decorated. I have little window stickers on the mirror of reindeer and  tree baubles, as well as the red tinsel.

Here's a blurry pic of the snow scene during dress rehearsal. You can see the lights from the orchestra under the stage.

Nutcracker Tech Rehearsal, 12/14

Hey everyone, today was the first tech rehearsal at the Performing Arts Center. The soldiers and jr.corps members got a dressing room. I had to go through a maze of halls and doors to get there, I was worried I'd get lost! The dressing room was almost empty by the time I got there, most of the jr. corps is in the Party Scene. The room has a wrap-around counter with mirrors and lights on the wall. Everyone had decorated their mirrors with tinsel, Christmas lights, stickers, and little nutcrackers. It was so cute. We got called up to the stage after waiting about half an hour. We ran through the scene just once, and after having a little meeting with the soldiers and jr.corps in the dressing room I left. 


I wanted to take some pictures of the theater to post but I forgot! I'll get some at the dress rehearsal tomorrow.

Last Studio Rehearsal, 12/11/2011 !

Hey everyone! Today was the last studio rehearsal for Nutcracker! We have two more rehearsals, but they will be at the theater where we will be performing. Everyone is very excited, just 5 more days until opening night!


Today we got to see a bit of a pas de deux between Clara and the Nutcracker that we've never seen before. It was so adorable, it made me wish I was young enough to be Clara next year, but unfortunately starting late does have these drawbacks.  Hopefully I'll be able to do a pas de deux before I go off to college, but I may not ever get that advanced.


Just a side note, I'm starting pointe in late spring. I've never wanted winter to pass this quickly!

Nutcracker Rehearsal, 12/4

Well, it's coming up! Just 12 days until the show premiers! The battle scene is really together, with just a few tweaks needed here and there. I got my costume today, it's a little short in the pants but other than that it's ok. It's white pants and a red top with gold buttons.


I'm pretty excited, next week we're practicing in the theater and then it's just a little while until our first show! It's been so much fun being apart of this, I'll miss it when it's over! There's always next year I guess!

Nutcracker Rehearsal, 11/27

Today we had another Nutcracker rehearsal. There was rehearsals for every part going on from 10 am to 5 pm, mine was 1:45 to 2:30. We rehearsed the battle scene with the soldiers, mice, Soldier Captain, Clara(s), Drosselmeyer, and the mouse king. 

The Mouse King and Drosselmeyer (Clara's Godfather) are both guest dancers from another company, and it amazes me to see them dance. Especially the Mouse King, when he dances with Clara and the soldier captain (who is a girl). He does almost as much acting as dancing, and he portrays the character awesomely.


Surprisingly, the mice were doing great today. They are pretty young girls, ages 5-7. They knew most of their cues already, and were ready to go. 


We are all really excited because in two weeks we start rehearsing at the theater where we will perform. The show is quite a big deal, with over 100 dancers from the academy and great guest dancers. My city's symphony orchestra plays the music for the show live. The show is put on in a beautiful old theater, the kind with a balcony, fancy ceilings, and red velvet seats. I'm really excited and nervous at the same time.

Nutcracker Rehearsal, 11/11

Hi guys, last night was another Nutcracker rehearsal. It was a lot of fun, we practiced not only with the soldiers, but with the mice, rat king, the Claras (we have one per performance) and the Nutcracker himself. It was so fun seeing everything come together, I can tell already the show is going to be awesome. The mice were young girls, ages 5-8. They were all so cute and excited. The mouse that I was assigned to shoot was so adorable, I found it hard to keep a straight face while I was fake-shooting her. The fight between the Rat King, who was a 25-30ish guy guest dancer from another company, and Clara (about 13 year olds en pointe) was very entertaining. The rat king picks Clara up and she kicks her feet, once the Rat king accidently hit one of the Clara's in the face while he was trying to pick her up! She was fine, she actually started laughing while she was trying to look afraid, and they both went into hysterics. 


I'm glad I auditioned for this, it's going to be fun.

*This isn't my picture, and it isn't from my ballet academy.

Also, if anyone here is looking for ballet classes in PA (USA), post a comment and I can recommend a few places.

First Nutcracker Rehearsal!

Hey guys! I just got back from my first ever Nutcracker Rehearsal. I am a toy soldier, along with 21 other girls ages 11-14. I only have a few small parts, one where we all march on stage, and one where I and 7 other girls march out alone and each shoot a mouse (instead of the classic cannon). 16 of the other soldiers have a bigger dancing part, but I'm not in it. I'm also in the battle scene, but we didn't practice that today. On a unrelated note, I saw Micheal Constantine (the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding) in the elevator!

Nutcracker Cast!

Hi everyone. I just got home from my first ballet class of the week. It's a 90 minute class, from 5:30-7:00. We started with the normal barre routines. There was an 11 year old girl from a higher level in my class tonight, it was nice to have someone who was a little more graceful and fluid than the younger girls to compare my movements to. After barre, class started to pick up. We worked on chaines and tour jetes. I've been dying to learn tour jetes since I saw them last year, so it was a good night. Of course, I was far from perfect, but that's what practice is for, right?

I was too nervous to check the Nutcracker castlist before class, so on the way out I stopped to read the list. I am a soldier! A soldier is a pretty small part, played mostly by girls around 12-13 that haven't started pointe. I'm pretty excited, I always feel the more ballet, the better! I really hope this encourages late starters to begin ballet, I started just last year and already have a Nutcracker role.