Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker A Family Tradition

We love to kick off the holiday season every year by heading to dress rehearsal for the Boston Ballet's presentation of Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House. Lauren is dancing in a different Nutcracker performance this year and was very excited to see the show. The show runs until December 31st so make sure to get your tickets now.

Lauren brought a good friend of hers that also dances.

They were both very excited.

The show is amazing with gorgeous sets and music.  I could not take pictures during the show however The Boston Ballet did share some press images with me.

Show Photos Taken by Liza Voll and Provided by the Boston Ballet

We even got to meet some of the lovely dancers at intermission.  The grace and beauty that these dancers show on stage is breathtaking.  

This is the 6th year of Mikko Nissinen’s re-envisioned The Nutcracker.  It is based on the libretto by Alexandre Dumas père titled The Tale of the Nutcracker, which is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”  Some of our favorites are the Snow Scene.

This is such a fun scene with the mice and Nutcracker.

 The costumes some of the characters need to dance in must be such a challenge.  The bear leaps so high which is so impressive!

These guys are unbelievable!  The jumps they did and turns were so awesome.  The whole audience was awe struck and erupted in applause after they danced. 

 The show has a full company of 56 dancers, 10 Boston Ballet II dancers along with more than 250 Boston Ballet School students.  This is always one of my favorites as I danced many times to "Waltz of the Flowers" and my daughter danced to it last year in her recital.

The show is about 2 hours long and does have an intermission.  The time flies though as you are so engrossed in the show.

There are 44 performances of The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House (539 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111)!
Tickets start at $35.
Visit http://www.bostonballet.org/nutcracker/

I highly suggest taking the family to see it and starting a family tradition or continuing one if you already have been.

Follow Boston Ballet on Twitter:  @BostonBallet  #BBNutcracker

Like them on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/bostonballet

Disclosure:  I was provided with tickets for dress rehearsal for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

11/26/16: Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker A Wonderful Holiday Tradition

The day after Thanksgiving for me is the true kick off to the holiday season.  This year we kicked off the season by heading to dress rehearsal for the Boston Ballet's presentation of Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House.  It was so exciting for my little dancer and her friend to experience the show up close and meet some of the performers.  The show runs until December 31st so make sure to get your tickets now.

The kids couldn't wait for the show!

The show is so breathtaking.  I enjoyed watching the technique of the dancers including their beautiful turns.  I could not take pictures during the show however The Boston Ballet did share some press images with me.

Show Photos Provided by the Boston Ballet
We even got to meet the Mouse King at intermission.  The kids were so excited to meet some of these wonderful dancers.  The costumes some of the characters need to dance in must be such a challenge.

I love the falling snow and the ability of these two was amazing!  Their leaps and turns were fantastic.  Their technique and stage presence was wonderful.

The kids got to meet them also.

Here is one of my favorite scenes.  With the snow falling and the beautiful dancing it gives me chills every time I see it.

 The show has a full company of 57 dancers 13 Boston Ballet II dancers along with more than 224 Boston Ballet School students.  

This is the 5th year of Mikko Nissinen’s re-envisioned The Nutcracker.  It is based on the libretto by Alexandre Dumas père titled The Tale of the Nutcracker, which is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”  There are so many amazing dances in the show.  These are some of my favorites.

 

This is always one of my favorites as I danced many times to "Waltz of the Flowers" and my daughter danced to it last year in her recital.

The show is about 2 hours long and does have an intermission.  The time flew and both of the girls were amazed the show was as long as it was as it went by so quickly for them.  I have been taking my kids for many years and they love it.

There are 43 performances of The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House (539 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111)!

Tickets start at $35.
Visit http://www.bostonballet.org/nutcracker/

I highly suggest taking the family to see it and starting a family tradition or continuing one if you already have been.

Follow Boston Ballet on Twitter:  @BostonBallet  #BBNutcracker

Like them on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/bostonballet

Disclosure:  I was provided with tickets for dress rehearsal for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

7/15/16: Dance Ovations Nationals in Cape Cod

Lauren has been on the competition dance team at Ellens School of Dance for two years and this year the team went to Dance Ovations Nationals in Hyannis, MA.  This year she competed in a Junior Jazz and Tap routine and a Mini Jazz routine.  Her Mini Jazz took first place overall and is now Dance Ovations Nationals Champions!  Here is last year's blog post on when we competed in Dance Ovations Regionals.

We started out the week at Nationals with Space Invasion competing.  This is her Junior Jazz team.  This is a cool routine and I love their makeup.  They wear silver lipstick and eye shadow.

All of the girls are aliens in this routine and the one boy in the routine is an astronaut.

They did an awesome job receiving a High Gold adjudication in addition to a Judge's Choice "Perfectly Packaged" Award.

Here is her team being given their Judge's Choice Award.

Here is some video of that routine from one of the other competitions.

Next up was Radio Remix.  This is their Mini Jazz routine.  This routine is adorable and they do an awesome job with it!

Lauren was excited to dance in this one.

Not only did they do a fabulous job but they got an "Absolute" adjudication which is the highest! 

 Plus they won first overall making them Nationals Champions!

Here is video of that routine.

Last but not least was Jukebox Rock.  This is her Junior Tap routine.  She is getting so big now and mature.  She does her own makeup.

This is an adorable routine and they did an excellent job.

They got a High Gold adjudication which was great.

What a super cute team.

Here is video of Jukebox Rock.

Here are a lot of the girls after awards.

The nice thing is that the girls had some down time to enjoy the pool and Cape Cod.  Here they are during the team pool party.

Lauren with some of her friends from her team.

A dance friend warming her up.  All of the older girls are so sweet and so nice to the younger ones.  Lauren really look up to them.

There was even a pizza party for everyone competing in Nationals.  Here is our team ready to go to it.

The first two nights the kids all went to master classes.  They got to learn jazz, hip hop, Broadway, and lyrical and had a blast.

Dance Ovations is all about making "Forever Friends".  Lauren was called up along with another girl and got to make a forever friend and receive a t-shirt.  What a great competition!  So much fun for the whole team!