Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Going for the THREE-PEAT!

Emily, my 13 year old, auditioned for the Cincinnati Ballet's Nutcracker on Sunday and found out this afternoon that she has been cast as a soldier with trumpet....she gets so excited each year about it, this being her third year....the opportunity to dance with a professional ballet company, if only for a maximum of 15 shows and only for about 6 ir 8 minutes on stage, but it is such a big deal to her.....she is really excited, floating on cloud nine right now and ever so eager to rejoin her "nutcracker" friends (many of the same kids return year after year) for another great season.

Now I get to put on my taxi mom hat and drive her into the city (Cincinnati) for rehearsals and shows...we live about 30 minutes out of town and the ballet is in one of the absolute worse area of Cincinnat (the blocks adjacent to it are really rough, a few years ago I made a wrong turn and ended up finding a "box city" inhabited by the homeless just about a block from the building).....from the direction I come from, there is only one road to the ballet ....Liberty.....and it seems that anytime there is a shooting in town that it is on Liberty and some cross street.....fortunately a police officer is on duty at all times at the ballet and will walk you to the car, but it sucks that there is nothing closeby to do when she is down there (the museum center is about 5 minutes away but isn't open in the evening). Last year after a rehearsal we were leaving and there was a robbery or some other crime at the gas station on Liberty, honestly there were at least 20 police cruisers with cops with their guns drawn and we are sitting right there in the middle of it all...talk about SCARY!

But Em is THRILLED and I will now begin my yearly quest to find a nutcracker that resembles her....this year it will be one with a trumpet....last year was a sword and the year before a rifle! Most likely this will be her last year, as the performers can't be over 5'5" tall or they won't fit in the costumes...she made it this year by only 0.5"!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell Em congrats!!!! I am still hoping to be up your way around Thanksgiving time... I'll keep you posted

Laura Riesenberg said...

let me know! I would love to meet you in person!