I saw Mikhail Baryshnikov dance on TV when I was little, and I was completely amazed by how he could fly through the air and float across the stage. It was absolutely magical to me. I was also very fascinated by the pointe shoes. I even made my own out of paper and tape, reinforcing the toe with the cardboard of a toilet paper roll and tightly packed toilet paper. Even though a lot of tape was used, it was largely ineffective in making me dance like the ballet dancers I saw in the Nutcracker.
Now our daughter Emma is into ballet. Last night, I got to take her on a daddy-daughter date into Boston to see the Boston Ballet perform Coppélia! Before the show, we had our picture taken with Coppélia!
For people who are not yet ballet enthusiasts, Coppélia is a great introduction to the art! It is a ballet comedy, and the first two acts are absolutely hilarious. Joseph Gatti played Frantz last night, and his facial expressions are priceless. He shows so much joy when he dances. Kathleen Breen Combs played Swanilda (and then later Coppélia). Both Joseph and Kathleen are beautiful dancers, and I was amazed by how hard they were able to make Emma and me (and the rest of the house!) laugh just through dancing. Kathleen portrayed a very convincing and comical robot.
The third act involved more traditional ballet dances, but what stole the show were the young performers from the Boston Ballet School! Emma found one who looked just like her. They danced with the same level of precision and grace expected of the more experienced members of the company. It was amazing.
After a spectacular performance, we got a back stage tour! We learned about how the stage is constructed, how the dancers warm up with bars on the stage, where they do quick changes, etc. We also got a few glimpses of the performers leaving for the night! Emma fell asleep on the way home. She had woken up at 5am with all the excitement for the performance that evening!
The Boston Ballet is very family friendly and provides boosters for children (ages 2+). Emma and I had a great time and can recommend it to families in the Boston Area!
Thank you to the Boston Ballet for providing tickets for this performance!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I would love all the behind tHe scenes stuff! Fun! Good to know it is so family friendly too!
I love behind the scenes tours! And the Boston Ballet really is very family friendly!
How fabulous! Definitely an evening to remember. I’m impressed that they provide boosters to help children see!
That impressed me, too! They do a very nice job of making it child-friendly!
Oh how fun! I am really looking forward to doing these sorts of things with our girls when they are older. I’ll have to see what Philadelphia offers that is family friendly when we are in the States next. What a special father/daughter evening!
It is fun to have kids old enough to take to events like this!
Sounds like a wonderful father/daughter date!
It was a magical evening for them :)
How wonderful to take Emma to the ballet. Sounds like the perfect performance for little girls!
It was the perfect outing for her :)
That sounds like so much fun! Though he came to at least most of my annual recitals, my dad was never really into the arts. I saw Rudolf Nureyev on his farewell tour for my 7th birthday (with my mom). On my 29th bday, I got to see Baryshnikov in a show (with my best friend). It was a really good play, but he didn’t really dance much more than a quick tap number.
That is so cool that you saw these great Russian dancers!
I take Princess to see the Nutcracker in the theater each year and she LOVES it!
What an awesome mother-daughter tradition!
I was always captivated by the ballet when I was a kid. I had many lovely trips up to San Francisco specially to go to the ballet with my mom.
I hadn’t realized you were from California! We’re moving there this summer, did you know?
How fun! What a lovely idea for a dad/daughter date. :-)
It was the perfect father-daughter date for Emma!
I remember when I first saw ballet as a child. It was a wonderful experience.
I was much older than Emma when I saw my first ballet, and it was definitely magical!