Tchaikovsky's My Home Boy

Every year around this time, I remember how much I love and miss the ballet. I develop a longing to watch the little toy soldiers and mice duke it out in the first act. Weird thing to miss, I suppose. The rest of the year I remember that I have seen the Nutcracker (and specifically the "fight scene") roughly five hundred times. In case you aren't aware, I danced with PNB for eight years when I was a kid. I performed in the Nutcracker three times...as a soldier each time. Get this: I was too tall to get a girl part. Hahaha. That still kills me. It's okay, the fight scene was way more fun than the party scene anyway.

Aren't they cute?

Gorgeous

The peacock will always be my favorite

My most cherished memory? One year Seattle was blanketed in snow (not exactly the "Snow-pocalypse" of last ear but close) and only half the cast was able to make it. My dad drove myself, Mari London (who was a few years ahead of me and was performing as a Chinese girl that year), and a guy who was in the Corps, to the Opera House and back. Almost every large scene had to be reworked before the performance due to a substantial amount of absences. I had a blast...and my dad and I watched the second half before making our way back home. Fun!

Maybe this is the year to get tickets. Maybe.