Because Namine participates in the Milwaukee Ballet’s Tour de Force program, we had tickets to see the Nutcracker. They were originally for the day after Namine had her teeth pulled, so she wasn’t yet feeling well enough to go.
On the original ticket date, the Milwaukee Ballet had set aside some time before the show for the kids to take a backstage tour and see some of the sets and how they’re built. Then after the show, they got to meet, talk, and have their pictures taken with some of the cast. (We did get a chance to do all that last year. It was really fun.)
The wonderful people at the Milwaukee Ballet were kind enough to get us new tickets, but of course we don’t quite rate high enough for a single-family backstage pass. Namine didn’t mind at all, though; she was ecstatic to get to see the ballet again. And since we were given four tickets, we were able to bring Namine’s cousin, who had never been to the ballet before.
Our tickets were supposed to be waiting for us at the willcall window, but there was a mixup and they were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, I had my phone and the email conversation which proved that we really were supposed to have tickets, so they printed a receipt for us and let us in.
We said hello and stopped for a picture with some of the dancers greeting people as they entered, then made our way to our seats. We had excellent seats, just four rows away from the orchestra! I took the girls up so they could look in the pit before the ballet started.
After the ballet was done, we went up to have our picture taken with some of the cast. Namine had thought she recognized one of the dancers, and now she was able to confirm it: it was one of her teachers from Tour de Force!
Namine loves the ballet, and she was thrilled to attend the Nutcracker again. And this year, it made even more of a personal connection because she was able to see one of her teachers in it!
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