I’m not really into ballet. It goes without saying neither is my husband. But when we found out my seven-year old niece was going to be in The Nutcracker, we figured we could suffer through to watch her onstage debut.

I became an aunt when I was eight, so the older I get, the more I understand what it means to be an aunt…and the more I feel like I need to play catch-up. Missing the show was definitely not an option. I told my sister two months ago we would be there. Then again, we were thinking it was a simple school play. A little dance show, if you will. We’ll go to the show, spend the weekend with my sister and the family, and it will be great.

But I was very wrong.

Only when we had tickets in hand did we know they cost forty dollars a piece. And that Madison was a snowflake among a group of about 12 or 15. And that she’d only be on stage for two minutes. And that of all the rows of snowflakes, she was in the very back corner.

It would have been easy to come up with an excuse not to go. When my niece isn’t standing right in front of me, with her cute red hair and her cute big blue eyes, it’s easy to come up with lots of excuses. We can’t afford it with Christmas coming up. We don’t want to make the drive. It’s such a tiny part; we’ll come when she gets a lead role.

But we decided to stay committed, paid for our tickets, and made the long trek up to South Bend after work Friday night, not pulling up to my sister’s driveway until 11 p.m. After writing my sister the $80 check for the tickets, I tried to get myself excited. It was Christmas, after all, and I had never seen The Nutcracker.

As we found our seats three rows from the front in the ornately decorated theater, I couldn’t help but notice how packed the place was. This was no mere school play. This was community theater. The ballet was at the Morris Theater downtown, an ornately decorated and old theater. Most were dressed up, out for a Christmas event with family and friends with plans to have a nice dinner afterwards.

And they were going to see my little niece dance like a snowflake in The Nutcracker.

I settled in to watch. The dancers were amazing. As I said, I am not a huge fan of ballet, but when you are sitting three rows from the front, you realize how incredibly strong you’d have to be to dance like that. I loved the music, and kept anticipating when the snowflakes would come out.

Finally they did. Though all the little girls were dressed alike, I could Madison out of a crowd of a million. Already tall and thin, she had her red hair pulled up into a tight bun, rosy cheeks, and a huge smile. She threw her arms in her moves, trying to be as graceful as possible, obviously loving being on the stage. She didn’t let anything distract her. She didn’t look to see what the other girls were doing. She didn’t look at her feet. She looked straight out into the audience, head held high, looking beautiful in her white leotard and skirt. Her thin arms swirled around her head as she twirled and dipped and bowed. I couldn’t help it; my throat got tight and tears welled up in my eyes. I was so proud of her. So confident at such a young age.

For a split second I could remember when my sister found out she was having a girl (I truly believe she would have kept trying until she had a girl). I remember when Madison got her baby pictures done on a pillow of feathers, and everyone remarked that she looked like a little cherubim. I remember her pudgy little toddler body with the curly red hair when she was three. I remember babysitting her and playing out in the yard when she was five.

Now I have something else to add to my list of memories. Now I have this precious moment I am sure I will remember for a long time. Long after Madison takes lead roles and graduates and gets married and has her own kids. I’ll remember being a proud aunt the day she danced in The Nutcracker. It was definitely worth the $80.

One Response to “The ballet”

1. Laura W. Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 1:16 pm

   *tear*

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