Geese On Frozen Pond

Okay, so not my best photo, but thought I’d share. While this pond isn’t currently frozen, the geese seem to be everywhere lately. On the street going to BG’s dance studio, they need to put in crossing signs for them. I’ve had to stop several times in the last couple of weeks because they decided to take over the road. I’m just glad they don’t want to hang out in our yard.

The ballet last night was amazing! I really shouldn’t be surprised as I’ve always loved ballet, but I am. I’d never seen Swan Lake, even in a video, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I have seen certain small pieces here and there that I guess I didn’t connect to Swan Lake or didn’t remember that was where those pieces came from so when I saw those performed on stage last night, I was all excited that I was getting to see it live.

There are certain things that I love to see when it comes to ballet. The really intricate, tight, synchronized choreography of larger groups of dancers that create these stunning effects, especially when you are positioned to see the whole stage from above. There is just something about watching that when the dancers nail those moves to such a degree of perfection that blows my mind. Swan lake had several dances that fell into this category for me and I spent quite a bit of time just sitting in awe.

Having watched BG learning ballet over the years, I’ve learned the names for a lot of what I saw. It was really interesting to see the professionals doing the same moves that BG is learning or has done. When she told me about the black swan at intermission and how she does 32 fouettes at some point, I knew what she was talking about and understood how impressive that truly is. Ballet is meant to look easy and effortless when the reality is that it so isn’t. This was the first professional ballet I’ve seen since she started ballet, so it was an even more incredible experience to see it knowing how insanely hard and technically difficult all those moves really are.

I had to laugh, though. We’d joked before we left that BG would be dancing in her seat when her song came on. Apparently, the piece she is doing for recital is a piece that you hear multiple times (or at least some similar version if not the full piece) throughout the entire ballet. Every time she’d hear it start, she’d look over at me with a grin and do these small hand and head movements that were pared down versions of what she’d be doing in her routine. When she whispered over to me at one point, “This part is my front line” it really drove home how much I loved that she got the opportunity to see and experience this.

Not only did we love the ballet itself, but we both got to dress up and look amazing. Not that it is hard for her at all, she’d look amazing in a sack. It is the first time in forever that I went all out. It felt really good. I’m so glad that we did this and that I didn’t end up missing out.