The Chinese

I probably say this every year, but I did have the best Chinese group this year for Nutcracker.  They were all hard workers, they all listened and they were all very good dancers.  What a delight!  Even with only ten girls, just having one who won't listen can change the whole dynamic, and I didn't have anyone like that this year.  They learned their dance eagerly and quickly, so much so that we had rehearsal time left to really make it shine.  I feel fortunate to teach this audience favorite.  The girls worked so hard that they started taping their hands every rehearsal.  Those practice fans are heavy and cumbersome, and working with them for a whole hour is exhausting.  There is no whining in my rehearsals, though, because if anyone utters a complaint, I am quick to remind them of all the girls who didn't receive a part.  So they come with their hands taped, even if they're sick or tired, ready to work.

I let the girls know how happy and relaxed I felt all week, knowing that they were going to perform so well.  One of my girls didn't feel well Friday and Saturday morning.  I had a dancer early on who lost her part because she was going to miss a number of rehearsals for a family vacation.  So this little girl was brought in to take her place.  She was so happy to be there, and I was thrilled to have her.  She was wonderful!  And then she got sick.  Standing backstage Friday night, I put my arms around her to give her a hug.  Through her costume, her skin was burning up.  She even whimpered a little, but she was so brave.  I wondered about her mother and the emotional roller coaster of her daughter not making it, then getting a call that she was in, then getting sick at just the wrong moment.  There is a story behind each and every dancer, which is what makes it so incredible that everything comes together in exactly the right way.  Well, almost exactly the right way.  The clarinetist in the pit who got dinged in the noggin by the Nutcracker head when Fritz broke it would be the first one to tell you that there WERE moments!  But most of them were sublime in their complexity, and their perfect simplicity.