Ballet West Spring Show

Everyone is wearing gingham these days! I felt left out, but not enough to go to a store. Then I found this in Araceli's closet! I wanted to look half-decent for my date with Scott (and like 10 of our kids) to Freestone's BW performance.

This was Tziporah after the show. She had a black eye from school and she'd been asleep for the whole second act. Poor kid!

The rest of us were alive and well! It is so exciting to watch Freestone onstage! He has been at BW for a year and a half now. It's incredible to see the progress, though not surprising, given how very driven he is. He has taken double classes all year with the goal of getting into the Professional Training Division, PTD. He got accepted for next year, which is pretty exciting! Mst of his friends are already PTDs, so he feels like the designation legitimizes him. Starting in September, he'll go to ballet from 1:30 to 6:45 every weekday and 10-3 on Saturdays. Unless there are rehearsals for a show or master classes, or YAGP. There's always something extra. Freestone is basically never home. This week, the week after the spring show, is his week off. I love having him around! The first day, he sais, "I can't live like this! There's nothing to do! It's only been ONE day?!" Granted, he is working at my store and has actually had some social life, but it's hard to come down from that intense schedule. He's usually at Ballet West from either 1;30 or 3:00 to either 6:45 or 8:15, and he's normally extremely punctual and likes to stay late. If he rides the bus or train, it take three times as long to get to and from, so we try to drive him, but he often rides public transportation.

Anyway...the spring show was so fun!!

Saturday morning, I relaxed with my boy for a few minutes before dropping him off at warm-up class on my way to Laura's funeral. He's a fun kid.

My gorgeous, glamorous parents at the Saturday matinee.

Mr. Jeff right before he pretended to hit Freestone on the head with his bouquet of flowers.

And Mr. Jeff pretending to be nice. Ha ha! Freestone worships Mr. Jeff. He is an icon. He and Mr. Nicolai are such colorful characters. Freestone has a lot of excellent teachers, but those two seem to conjure up the most stories. They're just very demanding. Of Nicolai, Freestone said, "He's a terrible teacher, really, but somehow, we all improve in his class and we have fun." He's not a terrible teacher, though, and Freestone knows it, but that's a perfect description. Scott and I watched his class. He grunts or waves his hand and everyone knows exactly what to do. His Ukrainian accent is thicker than the coffee he drinks with his cigarettes, but somehow all the students get him. He'll sashay over to a student during class and sneer something like, "Jonas did it better." And suddenly, that student has fixed whatever was wrong. A genius disguised as a "terrible teacher." 

After the last show, Scott and I took Freestone across the street to Squatter's. He ordered an apricot Hefeweisen. What a card! He got water.

And this was Freestone three years ago. It kills me! This is even before the stage that Mr. Jeff calls Freestone's "Little Porker" stage. So much has happened to that little mind and body!  And so many good things are in store.