Real First Nutcracker Rehersal

Last Saturday made for an interesting and challenging day. Found out who my “Better Half” will be for the Nutcracker Party Scene. Very nice woman that started dancing a little over a year ago has gotten so into ballet that she takes multiple classes a week and just begun beginning Pointe work. She has the lines and is rapidly learning technique. She smiles a lot and has a great sense of humor and as I’m finding out is very very driven and wants to practice with every spare moment so we spent an extra hour after rehearsal practicing our part until she felt more comfortable with the steps and movements. Did I forget to mention that the AD only wanted adults with dance background for the Party Scene? We are actually dancing instead of just stylized walking around with our partners which is pretty common for the party scene. Other part of the day was spent in doing a beginning partnering class with level 6 students (about 12 to 15 years old). First time I’ve done any partnering work in many many years and I had forgotten how hard it can be. Figure I was as nervous and apprehensive and the teenagers were, hopefully with a little time I can establish some trust with them. I am not the only adult male in the class as the instructor has recruited several men from his professional company to come in which is a good thing for me as I don’t feel so out of place being an older male in a class full of teenagers. The class is so big that even with 5 men we had to repeat each exercise three times so everyone had a chance to work with us, made for a very long hour and towards the end had me a little concerned that the muscles surrounding my prosthetic elbow might fatigue and give out. Which did worry me a little when we started learning supported “Fish Dives”, that one is going to take some practice outside of the class room. The girls were very nervous about it (and so was I).