Party Girls and Mounted Mice

We have had two weeks of rehearsals for the Nutcracker and it has gone well so far.  OJ was invited to understudy the Party Scene, as well as learning her role as a Mounted Mouse.  The Party Scene comprises 45 minutes of the production and has fairly complex choreography. Olivia has had 4 rehearsals for that scene and had her first Mounted Mouse rehearsal on Sunday.

I was thrilled when she was invited to learn the Party Scene.  It is a very meaty part and the costumes and scenery are absolutely beautiful.  Children are funny though. You'd have thought the Mounted Mice were the star of the production, to hear OJ yesterday.  She is absolutely ecstatic to be a "bad guy", wear an ugly rat costume (in which we won't be able to recognize her), and gallop around the stage for a minute or so.  It didn't hurt that the Joffery Children's Ballet mistress is completely brilliant for talking up every part in the ballet as being the absolutely best one.  She also played on our dancers' little egos by declaring only the smartest dancers get to be Mounted Mice.  They have to be able to count endless bars of music, gallop in neat little circles, and not knock anyone else over with their enormous costumes.

Here is our beautiful dancer.  I cannot wait to see her dancing in a beautiful victorian costume for half the ballet.

And here is the quick sketch our lovely ballerina drew of the costume she cannot wait to wear.