I took the little angel to The Nutcracker yesterday. Since she is still in ballet, I thought it might be time to go view the big guns in their gorgeous new home downtown. I bought the tickets the minute they went on sale, back in November, for the Sunday matinee. Because I've never been to the new performing arts center, I just angled for the closest seat I could find to the stage, even though it was sort of over on the side, which can sometimes suck.

This did not suck.

It was a frickin' box. With five chairs in the whole thing. And a WAITER.

The coat check guy looked at our tickets and mentioned it might just be a box, and I thought, oh my gosh, I have never sat in a box in my life. My child's head will explode.

We wandered through the gorgeous glass lobby so bright I needed sunglasses and wound our way around to the box. 

We were the first ones there, soon to be joined by a sweet family with a little tiny girl who will no doubt demand to be driven to prom in a limo following this experience. My girl and I marveled at the view. We could see the entire orchestra from that angle, as well as almost every single person in the audience. 

"You know, I didn't do this on purpose," I told my girl. "We may never achieve this level of seating here again. Now that everyone's seen it, it's going to be hard to come by."

She grinned ear to ear.

The waiter came by and asked if we would like to order some holiday cookies or drinks for intermission. Why yes, we would! 

"Can you believe it?" she kept asking, echoing me, I'm sure, who probably sounded like the world's biggest hick to the family next to us with enough money to take a two-year-old who had to leave halfway through the second act to watch her first Nutcracker from such an awesome seat. But I didn't care. I'm not wealthy, and I don't get to treat my girl to such things every day. 

As we walked out, I hoped she would remember her first trip to see the Kansas City Ballet, the first time we sat in the new performing arts center and the first time we experienced the glory that is box seats together, just the two of us, giggling like idiots through the whole thing.

I know I will.

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After four months of practices and fifteen hours in a small, poorly lit dressing room, it came to fruition.

 

The little angel as snowbird in the room that almost stole my soul.

 

The hat really makes the outfit.

 

The birds wait backstage.

She came flying in.

 

And landed, eyes on her heroine.

The snow queen.

She was also a merry maid.

 

The cutest in the world.

976 school kids from the KCMO school district saw the show. Thanks to all for the donations.

The little angel's ballet school is performing The Nutcracker next week. Twice on Thursday morning, twice on Friday morning, once on Friday night, and twice on Saturday. We have dress rehearsals this week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. She's been going in for at least an hour, sometimes two, on Saturdays since September. I've spent hours writing e-mails and press releases, trying to drum up an audience for the kids.

And I'll be honest, I was getting a little tired of the whole thing.

Until I saw this.

She's a snow bird. And when she grows up, she wants to be a star.

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And the theme is school kids who can't afford stuff.

I'm doing publicity for a local performance of The Nutcracker. One of my jobs is to call metro schools and ask if they'd be interested in bringing their kids in for field trips (some of the performances are designated for schools and held during the school day). When I called the KCMO school district a few weeks ago, the very nice woman there told me so many of the kids are on the reduced or free lunch program they probably couldn't afford the $4 ticket price. Considering I had to send $5 to school with the little angel last week so she could eat a doughnut, this statement almost made my head pop off with the injustice of it all.

I'd been rolling the whole Nutcracker thing around in my head for some time when I saw Kelly Wickham's post about her kids (she's a vice principal of a school) not being able to carry big purses or backpacks but not being able to afford yet another purse for their lady things.

I'm going to sort through my closet to find a few small purses to send Kelly's girls so they can carry their tampons with dignity through the halls of their big-purse-and-backpack-banning school. If you're decluttering this year, please think about throwing a few tiny purses in a box and mailing them to Kelly. The P.O. box is in the link above.

And I'm going to ask you to consider approaching your employers or yourselves or your families about sponsoring a few KCMO school kids to see a very inexpensive ballet production this holiday season.  If you donate above $50, your name will appear in the program (I have details about levels of sponsorship for companies and individuals), but also, if you donate anything, we can designate it for KCMO kids if we get enough to bus in a few classes.