The Nutcracker and The Mouse King...

All four of our children were in "The Nutcracker and The Mouse King" this past weekend. It was an originally choreographed performance following the original book by Hoffman, rather than Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite". The kids worked so hard for months in advance.  When it came to the big night all of the children went on stage without a moments hesitation.  They were so ready and did an excellent job.  We are so proud of them.  Thanks to my Father, a professional photographer just retired from the National Gallery of Art and the only person allowed to take photos on the two performance nights, I have tons of great photos.  While I am thanking people, thank you to my Mom and Stepmom for working backstage one night each to help our children be as comfortable as possible and be the best that they could be.  My dear Husband worked backstage every night of the performance and received loads of compliments from the regular backstage staff.  He's a keeper, I tell ya! 

Goldilocks (9) was a snow kid. She is the child being pulled off stage by the Godfather.  Her modern dance class did a wonderful job depicting kids playing in the snow.  All of my kids really surpassed my expectations, not only in their performances but also in their endurance and obedience through this experience.  Staying up so late night after night and dealing with the controlled chaos backstage was a huge triumph for them.  (For those who did not follow us on homeschoolblogger, our children have a variety of special needs that makes their ability to do what other children do more complicated.)

Tom Sawyer (8) was a dragon toy that came to life. He is the one at far left with the ears on his mask.  His all boy dance class brought laughter and applause from the crowd as soon as they started jumping around on stage.  His "boy dance class" is so awesome! It is called that because young boys do not want to take ballet and modern, etc. classes, so they don't realize they are learning the correct moves while being in the all boy class. They made their own masks and he got to bring his mask home for keeps.

Our oldest son, Timothy (20), was a soldier.  He is in the middle at the very back.  His fencing class was the mice and soldiers.  They put on a great battle scene.  I wanted my son to be in the forefront, but he was so relieved to be in the back. LOL

Little Red Ridinghood (7) was cotton candy.  Her ballet class was so cute.  She is the one on the far left in both of the above pictures.  Several people stopped us after the performance to say she had stolen the show of the younger dancers because she new all her dance moves and posed properly.  Others came forward to comment on how well all of the children had done and that no one showed any stage fright.  What sweet things to hear about my children!

Here is just a few more pictures of their bows.

There was only one small crisis during the whole performance.  On the last night of the play, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate. The temperature was in the 20's, and the kids were mostly barefoot and in short sleeves. The fencers were heroes and took off their armored jackets to wrap around kids and we put the barefoot kids on our feet so that they would not have to stand on the cold pavement.  We were back inside in 10 minutes!!  A side note ~ My husband and I were supposed to be in the audience that night but just felt that it was the wrong decision.  So, after a bit of prayer, we decided to both work backstage that night.  We did not know why, but we just felt led.  I would have been in such a panic if I had been in the audience unable to get to my kids.  God is Good!

Blessings,
Dawn