Nutcracker Ballet a Sunday Matinee with Colorado Ballet
Hello December!
The girls and I had the privilege of attending last Sunday’s opening matinee performance of The Nutcracker, by Denver’s one and only, Colorado Ballet!
I will NEVER tire of the Nutcracker. It’s a ballet I could see over and over, and fall for the nostalgia and get all the Christmas feels, every single time. It might be because since I was a young girl, I have either watched it on stage, or performed in a production of it myself! I am so fortunate that I can say as a young girl, I attended ballet in the academy at the Colorado Ballet. I have so many joyous and beautiful memories of my childhood and especially at Christmastime from going downtown and heading through those stage doors, putting on makeup and getting costumes on. I get the extreme honor to have TWO beautiful little girls of my own now, and I get to take THEM to see the Nutcracker! SO thrilling! THIS is always a Christmas present to me to witness it through their tiny glittery eyes!
This year was extra special because it was Arlo’s very FIRST time attending a ballet and seeing the Nutcracker! She has been obsessed with the nineties movie version with Macaulay Culkin and the New York City Ballet since last year when we discovered it was on Netflix! My little Lo… she has been asking for “ballet lessons” and saying “I want to be in the Nutcracker,” for at least two years and FINALLY it was her year to go! Just in case…we got seats on the main level, just through the doors when you enter the theater, there are partitioned off boxes with chairs on wheels! You heard it right! This was actually PERFECT for my girls and I as ten minutes into the Party Scene, Lo wanted to switch seats with me, so I easily wheeled her back moved my seat over and she was happy as a toasted chestnut for the remainder of the first Act.
At intermission, I treated the girls to hot cocoa! We had a chance to walk upstairs, listen to some music, pretend to do ballet, and look at some of the archived costumes hanging on the walls. It was so fun to hang back and watch Remy take on her big sister role, often times holding Arlo’s hand and leading the way. Sharing tidbits as if she were an expert, and she might very well be! Remy has been a couple times before! (See here and here.) Lucky little girl. The couple of years before, husband was my date! (See here and here.)
I definitely shared with the girls about how many people do not get the opportunity to even see it once in their lifetime, and how blessed they were for the chance. We chatted about the cost of a ticket and the value of it and how special it really is to go downtown and see Colorado Ballet perform. A treat, truly.
By the way, the Colorado Ballet is also raising funds and asking for the public’s support, in an effort to update their sets and costumes for the 2020 Nutcracker running next season. Their costumes and sets are from the 80’s, and were purchased in 2005, and have seen better days. If you feel compelled and in a giving mood to support the Colorado Ballet and their future productions of the Nutcracker, you can consider donating here.
Before we left for the show, we even got our letters to Santa made out and sealed up to put in the box they have at the Denver Center for Performing Arts Complex. It seems they have it set up there every year, and I actually remembered that and planned ahead! Don’t worry, I made dummy envelopes to match theirs and KEPT their REAL letters for memories and future…I’m odd like that… Haha! The girls really haven’t asked for anything, but we have seen Santa a couple times already this season, he’s been popping up for us…and I think the pressure is on to ask for SOMETHING, ANYTHING so Remy has mentioned a couple things that struck me as odd because she really isn’t into it. Media hype seeping in? Friends at school? Not sure…she id ask for a REAL DOG- NOPE, and she has asked for a photo of her family a couple of times which crushes me.. Arlo asked for what her sister asked for on the letter, but before that when she spoke to Santa she said she wanted to donate her toys to kids who didn’t have any and a pirate ship. The pirate ship is something new, and that’s because she saw one in a window of Ship’s Tavern downtown at the Brown Palace… oh brother…Good thing Santa KNOWS them well….VERY glad they are content and happy girls who aren’t begging for a long list of junk.
We are still swirling and twirling around the house. In fact, Santa may just have a fresh pink pair for Arlo under the tree this year, and maybe even some ballet lessons…
If you caught some of our Instagram Stories on Sunday, you saw that Rem literally DANCED out of the theater! We also found our favorite, Brothers’ Brass Band playing outside after the show. We LOVE this and look forward to this bonus performance now every year. The girls now discovered they can slide down the railings and found that quite fun. We combed our hair before, promise, although from these photos, and ALWAYS, you couldn’t tell! My girls are the adventurous type, who love the fantasy and whimsy in everything. Remy’s favorite part is when the Nutcracker doll is placed in the castle and there’s a small explosion and he turns into a real prince. I think she’s learning about fiction and non-fiction in school these days, because she asks if stories we read lately are fiction or non-fiction and then she’ll excitedly tell me she knows and explain why. I love to always ask my girls at the end of The Nutcracker, so…was Clara dreaming? According to my girls, it really happened and she never went to bed. Sounds about like something going on in my house some nights. Another highlight this year was the clapping after a series of spectacular turns or jumps…which leads me to tell you that the performances by the dancers this year was exceptional! Arabian is Remy’s favorite, and mine, of COURSE Mother Ginger and the angels are a hit with my girls, and I loved Dewdrop and Sugar Plum Fairy- like always.
If you would like to see a performance of Colorado Ballet’s The Nutcracker this holiday season, you can get tickets here. Happy holidays to everyone! Share in the comments if you have ever seen the Nutcracker, danced in it, or have any memories of this classic Christmas story.
…Glo
We are so thankful to the Colorado Ballet for sponsoring this post, and making it possible to share content that means so much to us and our family, ballet and the performing arts.
Wearing: Both girls are wearing thrifted dresses, tights, shoes and head bands from Target. Coats from Crazy 8, from last year or the year before. My jacket, blouse and purse are thrifted, my skirt is new from Target, shoes old.
