Her First Ballet

So Abby has been reading about ballets and ballerinas lately. One of our favorite books is called Belinda the Ballerina. It's a cute book. And Abby has been talking off and on about learning to be a ballerina. So this year we decided to take the plunge. We decided to take Abby to a ballet.

My mom first started taking me to the ballet when I was eleven or so. It was a birthday present for me. Considering when my birthday falls, the only ballet options were Christmas ones. So, my first ballet was the Nutcracker. I loved it. Naturally, Grammy suggested that Abby's first ballet be the Nutcracker too.



I was all for it.

So we went this weekend. Of course I prepared Abby first. We talked about the story. We talked about the differences between a ballet, a play, and a musical. We talked about all the different roles needed to pull a production together. We talked about teamwork. We talked about the music and the dancing. We talked about theater etiquette. We planned what we would wear and how we would do our hair.

Her ballet dress



And for the big day, Abby was stoked. Grammy joined us and we were all excited. As the lights dimmed and the curtain rose and all the audience clapped, Abby leaned over and whispered, "Mommy, it's just like you said." And she sat up straight, and clapped her little hands, and grinned ear to ear as the bright lights turned on. She loved it.

She did great. And for that matter, so did most of the other kids in the audience. It was nearly a sea of little girls in their pretty Christmas dresses, but everyone did good. It was too funny when they announced that Cinderella would be playing in February, and all the little girls let out a "Oooooo" sound.

As an extra surprise, Abby got her own small gift:



And after the performance, like hundreds of other little girls in their fancy dresses, Abby wanted to practice her own dance moves:








What a great first experience.





And now Abby is begging for a play or a musical next! Woohoo, culture!