Closing Night Lessons Learned

Ten years of Nutcracker triumph and tragedy has come and gone for Ruby.

Xanthe and Support Cousin, Rosabella.

Our people

Don Carlos is always willing to help you sleep if you crash on the couch.

Araceli comes prepared. She brought a pillow for the dressing room!

The Pages were a cute little group

The Dopps were a cute little group, too!

Christi Wagstaff and I have driven these two so many times, back when I could still navigate carpools. They have a long history, Abi and Ruby. It's devastating to see it all come to an end.

These next pictures are my favorite. The way nutcracker works for the older girls is that the top scores in audition get all of the parts, sometimes 3 or 4 solo parts in addition to Corps, and then some girls don't make it. Clytie hates it, everyone hates it, but that's how it is.

Ruby's friend Kara didn't make it, and all of the Clytie girls and all of Davis High Dance Company was sad. At the same time, Ruby was feeling stingy and selfish because she had gotten Waltz and Snow, the Corps parts, but not Spanish, the solo part she wanted. Kara mentioned that Clytie had called her, apologetic, and said that if anyone dropped out of Snow, Kara was in. Ruby knew exactly how make everything right, and help herself feel better about not getting Spanish, too. She immediately declined her part in Snow. What made it extraordinary was Kara's reaction. She and her mom both wrote sweet notes to both Ruby and me, explaining what a difference Ruby's generosity made. I got a few tearful, wordless hugs from other moms, too, during Nutcracker season, who knew the situation.

One day while I was teaching, I came across an old class list. Ruby and Kara's names were right there next to each other. I got all choked up remembering them as tiny dancers, no more than seven years old, standing side by side at the barre. Thousands of hours over years, these girls have shared the experience of dance. It was the most obvious thing in the world for Ruby to give one of her parts to Kara. Gracious, lovely Kara told Ruby that her whole outlook on life had changed as a result of Ruby's selflessness.  I was changed too, not just by Ruby, but by Kara's kindness in return. If dance can't teach you spiritual beauty of this sort, then there is really, truly no point to it. This time, lessons were learned beyond the barre, beyond the stage.

Brynn Evans was Clara, and I couldn't have been more pleased.  When she was in my class, she was hard-working, happy and kind, besides being a beautiful dancer.