Nutcrackers 1 and 2, 2011

Charlotte performed in 2 different Nutcracker productions this year. The first was over Thanksgiving weekend. Ballet Idaho came to town to perform with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and local children filled in the rest of the roles. This year Charlotte was a Party Girl, so she had her own stage-sisters and parents. Party Girl is probably the best role for girls her age and skill level because they are on stage for most of the first act and get to do quite a bit of acting as well. It was fun to watch her interact with the other people on stage, pretending to talk to them and also to see her react to the various goings on. She got to be hypnotized by Drosslemeyer and sobbed when the Nutcracker is injured.

In December she performed with the Colorado Youth Ballet, the pre-professional company associated with her ballet school. She was offered a spot in the company way back in August. The company members work on various productions all year, and the Nutcracker is their biggest show. She was a Party Girl in one show and a Battle Soldier in the other show. This time her role as party girl was much larger since this production was highlighting the student dancers with just a few adults filling in as needed. Once again she got a whole new on-stage family!

As a Battle Soldier she was part of the Nutcracker’s army to defeat the Rat King and his minions. She and the other soldiers had to be very accurate in their dancing in order to preserve the look of soldiers marching in unison.

We are so proud of our dancer! She has worked so hard this season, often in rehearsals from 2 PM to almost 7 PM. It really showed, though. She was just outstanding in all of her performances. Unfortunately, we don’t have any video of her shows with the CS Philharmonic, but we will have DVDs of each of her shows with the Colorado Youth Ballet. We’ll be happy to share them!