Nutcracker, Dogs, Strap Chaos & more

The Nutcracker

Each December during the late 90s I spent a lot of time at BYU rehearsing and performing for the Nutcracker. We had carpools to help all the parents out. My mom was driving one occasion, and our friends, Tiani and Vanessa, came along. These two girls weren't usually in our car pool. We got in the car and my mom announced: "We are picking Herschel up on the way home so he'll have to sit on your lap."
Revolted, I exclaimed: "Mom! I'm not letting Herschel sit on me! He stinks! He is way too heavy. Why can't you drop us off and go back to get him?"
Mom: "He's been at Grandma's all day and it's on the way. You can handle it for a few minutes."
Me: "No way! He stinks and is dirty and probably has fleas!"
Mom: "You need to suck it up then because Herschel is going to sit on your lap."
Me: "Can't we put him in the trunk?"
Mom: "I hope you're kidding."

I continued for quite a while, probably far longer than a more mature girl my age would have complained. We finally pulled up at my Grandma's. My mom warned me: "I'm going to get Herschel. You better be nice."
The girls were in the car chatting, waiting, and the door opened and my Mom and Herschel walked out onto the porch.
"Oh...that makes more sense." Tiani said.
I asked what made more sense.
"By the way you were talking, I thought 'Herschel' was a dog, but it's your brother."
So obviously, I wasn't the best sister to Herschel. But here are a few photos of him at this stage of his life and maybe my less than sisterly actions will seem more justified. He is a pretty awesome kid despite growing up under my oppression.

Strap Chaos

More Nutcracker mayhem....

The green/yellow costume above is from the "Woodnymph" variation. Luckily this experience occurred at a dress rehearsal rather than a real performance.

As I was standing in the wings, waiting to go on stage I stretched my back and heard a pop in my costume. I didn't think much about it and went out. Early in the variation, one strap broke off. In a flash, my costume was only half secure. At the time, I thought I may have flashed my "almost A" sized chest, but now I think about it, probably not. Even though I didn't have much to show off, I still wasn't about too ignore the fact my costume was busting off. So I held onto the armpit area of the bodice with one arm and kept dancing. It was surprisingly difficult to dance without the use of an arm, not to mention the fact I looked ridiculous. But I didn't fall and by the end it seemed like everyone was laughing at me, so all in all a fun way to lighten up the rehearsal stress, and a reminder for the seamstresses that the elastic may be a little old.

One performance my friend and I were both only corps in a really lame role in the ballet Coppelia. We planned to chew gum in that particular performance and here is our proof. It probably doesn't seem that rebellious, but at the time I felt really defiant and it seemed intense when Erin got caught right before finale.

(I know...stage make-up is scary...especially mine.)

Pretending to eat the snow scenery