TrulyGrace

Kelly's arrival day, December 2005

Kelly arrived this past Friday evening from NYC. Earlier that day, I volunteered for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's production of The Nutcracker. There was a new volunteer that evening, so I showed her the ropes and we also had a chance to watch the production. Her daughter was one of the PBT students performing that evening. Erin Halloran was Marie, Jaibin Pan was the Sugarplum Cavalier, and Ying Li was the Sugarplum Fairy. Alan Obuzor--a corps de ballet dancer whose career progression I have been following since I met his family--danced in the Arabian Dance, which had limited leaps; powerful, floating leaps are a hallmark of Mr. Obuzor's dancing. I had the pleasure to meet Marianna Tcherkassky, the ballet mistress, at intermission. Nancy, our volunteer coordinator, noted that we had some times of high activity at the boutique; and all of the volunteers stayed until the last balletomanes departed. It was a joy to watch, but the lack of live music was noticed.

That night, after dining on shrimp and crabmeat with William and Marissa; Dad, Mom, and I went to the musical Forever Plaid. My friend, Sue, mentioned that one leaves with toes tapping and a song in one's heart. Fifteen minutes into the production, Mom was naming off song titles before they were sung. Mom noted that it took a few songs for the group to warm up, but they sounded fine for the rest of the show. Audience participation was key, and several pieces made famous by Harry Belafonte were sung with the audience; as well as a woman from the audience played "Heart and Soul" for a few measures. Mom and Dad enjoyed the show, especially since the music was a collection of oldies and goodies from the 1950's and 1960's.

When we returned, Kelly had arrived from the City, via a carpool, and we were all at home sitting and laughing and talking. It was good to have most of us home.

posted by Grace @ 12/26/2005 03:39:00 PM