Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Nutcracker

One of the best things about where we live is the easy access to the arts.  With the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts (MTCA), the University of Missouri, and a wide variety of art galleries in town we rarely have to leave town to expose the girls to fabulous theater and art programs.  

Last night I took Madeline and Isabella to see the Moscow Ballet preform The Nutcracker at the MTCA.  The Nutcracker is also preformed at The University of Missouri's Jesse Hall every year.  It was their first time seeing this particular ballet, although we did go to see Swan Lake at Jesse Hall last year and I took Isabella to see a production of Cinderella, also at Jesse Hall, about 2 years ago.  We all really enjoyed the production, although the girls did get a bit antsy toward the end.  I think they both would have been happy if I had let them dance along in the aisle (we actually had to leave the production of Cinderella because Isabella insisted on doing just that).  Isabella also made up her own words to go along with the music, which I thought was interesting.

This production also had some local children in it who had spent a few months preparing for the show.  A couple of their friends were in the production, and they thought it was really cool to see their friends on stage.  That the type of opportunity I think we may take advantage of in the future.

I also brought home the CD, and I am looking forward to seeing them dance along and act out the story.  I hope Isabella remembers some of the words to her songs, because I would love to hear them!

It was also an opportunity for a geography lesson!  We spent some time looking at the map and finding Russia and Moscow, and seeing how far it was from Missouri.  I am also planning to have them locate the other countries that were represented in the show.

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