Today we attended The Nutcracker Ballet in Knoxville, at the Civic Auditorium. It’s quickly becoming an annual tradition for us. This is our third year in a row. The children enjoy it very much. I love it. Ballet, like any art, is therapeutic. It healed some of the brokenness I was feeling after the terror attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, and the loss of our friends’ daughter last week.
The Appalachian Ballet Company has been performing The Nutcracker for 44 years.
On a funny note, my son told my husband, “Daddy, I don’t want to dance.” Poor guy. Mommy took him to several concerts by the Knoxville Youth Symphony Orchestra several years ago and, next thing he knew, he got a violin for his fifth birthday and started violin lessons. Now that he sees mommy keeps taking him to this ballet, he wonders if the next extra-curricular activity is dance.
Daddy smiled and said, “That’s where I would put my foot down, son. No dance lessons for you, even if mommy wanted you to start.” I smiled, especially because I never thought I should put my son in ballet or dance. I told my son to relax, that I would never ask him to take dance lessons. It had never crossed my mind.
Another scene from The Nutcracker Ballet
My daughter, on the other hand, made the best comment of 2015: “The Sugar Plum Fairy is flexible. Very flexible.” I laughed my heart out when I heard her. It was during the Grand Pas De Deux and, of course, the Nutcracker was twisting and turning the Sugar Plum Fairy in all directions.
I must say, after what happened recently in San Bernardino and Paris, I thought we might be a soft target – an auditorium full of school children, watching a Christmas ballet. But we have to continue to live our lives. Otherwise, they win.
Daddy came with us this year, for a change. I had to drag him a little bit on this one, but it worked out. I felt more secure with him there. After the ballet, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel and made a day of it. We got home around 3:30pm, just as the school buses were taking public school children home.
What remains after a day at the ballet is the desire for elegance and smooth transitions. The ballerinas are elegant and smooth, that’s for sure.
Oh, and one more thing. We were surrounded by school children. When one of them was out of control and the chaperone was not saying anything to her, I leaned over and I said, “Stop, please.” She was stunned and behaved well afterwards. The chaperone was stunned and did not say a word.
I was stunned that I had the courage to do this. Apparently, I have no problem disciplining somebody else’s child in public. Watch out!
