Last night was Ballet and Rootbeer for the upcoming production of The Nutcracker. I took my 6 year old son for the first time, which was his first experience with the ballet. I found it quite humorous that when we first arrived at the Cincinnati Ballet’s rehearsal building and I showed him a young male ballet dancer, he was surprised that he was dancing “with girls”. Yuck!

Unfortunately, he was not too thrilled with sitting in the theatre watching the dancers either. Possibly boring for  a little boy (unless already predisposed) and for a first timer that cannot vision the final product. These dancers are not in costume, so if you have never seen the ballet, do not know what’s going on or are not moved by the fact of what these professionals are doing, it may not be quite so compelling for some. For me, as soon as the music starts I am lost. Even with that, it is even more exciting when I am sitting in the big theatre with the roar of the live orchestra and the wonderful colors of the costumes. I feel like even after watching the rehearsals and the informal production, the whole thing comes to life with the costumes and sets. Bigger than life actually like an escape to another world filled with nothing but beauty and passion.

Once again, it was wonderful to see all of the little girls dressed up in little ballet tutu’s and whether he enjoyed the performance or not, my son had fun meeting some of the dancers and playing with the new friend he made less than 5 minutes after arriving. It just happened to be another boy that really was bored with the whole thing, except the free cookies of course.

Last night was the first time that I was able to see Jill Marlow and Liang Fu dancing since I began watching them a few weeks ago rehearsing the lead parts for the first time. Still somewhat new to the ballet behind the scenes, I thought that they looked perfect the first time that I saw them, which was only the second day they had rehearsed the parts. The second time that I saw them, I had the opportunity to see just the two of them working with Devon Carney and could see the difference between how they were executing each step and how they could interpret it more effectively. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of changing legs or the speed of the step. I realize it may not seem like a big deal however, it could mean the difference of injury or just an awkward landing.

I was pleased to see a beautiful performance danced by all of the dancers and most importantly to me, “my” beautiful new friends Jill and Fu. Great job to both of you and I cannot wait to see you in full costume on the big stage sans a 6 year old.