Nutcrackers... 2 in all

Ellie invited her "friends since heaven" cousin with her to the Nutcracker this year. 

 Just like last year, they had a VIP pass to the backstage to sit in Clara's sleigh.

They also danced away with Clara on the big stage. Clara was performed by the one and only highly talented Morgan.  She was an excellent Clara.  So excellent, that I convinced her to come be Clara in our version of the Nutcracker.  She said yes, because she loves me to dance.

  Ellie made big plans to be in the production next year.  She is in love with the stage, and performing, and having an "audience."  She looks good in blue light, yes?  Luckily she did get to perform in a Nutcracker performance this year.  It was just a little more "low key."

 Our version of the Nutcracker was a performance plus a tea party.  The food was delicious.  I might have overestimated on the grapes and salad, but hit the mark with the rest of the food. 

 We decorated with a lot of these beauties... a lot of them.  The fabulous maintenance guys hung them up... then we taped some to the stage. It was a snowflake tissue pom pom extravaganza.

 Every tea party needs a craft.  We also had sparkly snowflake headbands to make as well. The glitter got WAY out of control.  Who's idea was the glitter anyway? :-)

 The star of the show (well actually she was just a candy cane) got ready for her performance. She was the star to me!

 I might have picked my very favorite costume for the class Ellie was in.  I love this costume!  The gingerbread were darling as well, but I ended up loathing the gingerbread costume because they came 3 sizes too big for the tiny little dancers that were supposed to wear them.  I didn't believe Jo Dee when she told me that something always goes wrong with costumes.  I confidently thought to myself, "I got this!" To my surprise the girls were swimming in their costumes- and we had to fix them all.   Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the costume drama.  Let's just say that the Sugar plum Fairies were a nightmare! The costumes... not the dancers.  I think if you are going to sell costumes it would be a good idea to disclose in the catalog when you are not going to include the crotch section of the costume.  Maybe it's just me... Dear costume people, if you could just please add the text, comes with everything you see here except for the fabric you are assuming is at the crotch next to the costumes that you will be shipping out to unsuspecting clients, it would be a HUGE help.

 Mia was so proud of her sister!  Maybe it will be her up on stage next year.  

The rose Ellie is holding was from Morgan, she brought her a flower and a treat. She felt so special! Morgan did an amazing job dancing with DeShawn...it was beautiful. I wish I had taken pictures of Morgan on the stage, and Ellie on the stage for that matter, but I was doing the music.  It only took  the first two shows to work out the music kinks, and the third show was flawless. :-) Ellie wanted to keep one of the giant Nutcrackers... she thought it actually cracked nuts.

 My parents walked in (after a crazy long drive) 30 seconds before the last show began.  A few hours earlier I had kind of given up hope they they would make it when my mom updated me with the news that she had counted 46 semi-trucks pulled off to the side of the road. You can always count on my parents, and you can always count on my dad to be sporting his belt buckle and his Swiss Days hat- I love it!  I was so glad they got to see Ellie dance.

The solider and the Candy Cane... they came from rivaling tap classes, and were unlikely friends, but somehow their love of dancing brought them together. Just kidding.They are buddies...

 In fact, these two girls were peas in a pod the entire day.  They danced on the stage, took over the gymnastics room, made two or three or ten crafts, and played a lot of hide and go seek.  It was a long day, but one of the best for these two.  

 Jo Dee and Lauri were my partners in crime.  You might remember them from this post.  We could eat Thai food and visit for hours, and now that the Nutcracker is over, we might just get a chance. For a second you thought I had a super long arm huh?  It's not my arm- neither is the one that looks like it really is mine. :-) That is my default "pose" arm... I need a new one- this one dates back to my years on the Drill Team. It's time to retire it.  seriously...it's gotta go. The good news is there are not pictures to haunt me later on I haven't had too many opportunities to "pose" since I was on drill team.    

All of the instructors... well not all of them, but the ones who choreographed for the Nutcracker.  I don't know if it is from all the discipline, but dancers tend to be a little Loca.. I mean Loco. Especially this group!