When I was little, my mom found an ad in the paper about auditions for a local ballet company that was putting on The Nutcracker. Up until that point, dance was a fun, after school activity with a never-ending recital at the end of the year. When we realized the date for auditions had already past, I remember being teary eyed sitting on the couch. My mom called to see if I could come take a class as a substitute for the audition and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, I was in a fluffy pink tutu and a Bo Peep pole dancing on stage as a Marzipan candy.
That’s when ballet transitioned from an extracurricular to a passion for me. Being on stage was my favorite, and after being a part of The Nutcracker for a few years, I worked my way up to earn the lead role of Clara (second to the Sugarplum Fairy, of course). It was the first time I had set out to accomplish something big and achieved it. To my family who sat through probably hundreds of performances, hearing Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers might make them cringe. For me, however, anything Nutcracker related not only brings me back to such precious memories, but it also reminds me of how ballet built so much of my work ethic, resiliency, and discipline.
Ohhh, and we’re also trying to figure out if anyone actually uses nutcrackers to crack nuts, so be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments ;).
