Last week, for the first time in years, I had the pleasure to take in a performance of The Nutcracker, all thanks to the somewhat inebriated whim of a good friend. As children, my mother took us several years running and I always enjoyed it. Even the many of us who have not seen a performance or specifically sought out its soundtrack are familiar with the tunes of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. You can find them in Tetris and all manner of holiday ads.
But in all of my viewings, this was the first in which my brain had the focus on simply the movements of each of the cast members of the show. While my original intentions in creating this blog were to gripe about nonsense and worthless frustrations I experience in life, sometimes serious, and sometimes tongue inserted into the cheek, at times I must, even here, lay down my solid appreciation for how awesome something is. In day-to-day life I do this all the time but, again, not really my goal in writing in here.
That worthless aside aside, you should get thee to a performance of The Nutcracker, as I imagine even the worst could still be one of the finest things you see. I can't possibly know that of course, but it seems reasonable given the general reverence held towards the classic. Sure, people will bastardize anything, but it's a bit harder to do when you have to get a theater space and two hours of performance time, let alone practice. Still, even if a ramshackle band gathered together dancing like asshats to a CD of the recordings I could imagine it still be decent, because Tchaikovsky (no coincidence his initials are P.I.T.) is such a badass.
Putting aside that worthless aside, as well, and what I wanted to get at is how it's really a true joy to watch the delicate, effortless, and beauteous movements of bodies well-trained in the art of ballet.
So when you've got a chance, take a crack at seeing The Nutcracker, and soak in a little fine holiday tradition.
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