Community Ballet
Posted by dpolitico on December 15, 2009 · View Comments
Living in Wichita I have sat through my fair share of community theater, some of it good, some not so good, some down right bad, some just awful. Now, I can say that I have sat through community ballet, a local production of the Nutcracker. Not so good.
My husband (33) and two children (3 and 8 months) managed to fall asleep before the Nutcracker showed up and after the Sugar Plum Fairy did her thing. Essentially, they saw a bunch of children demanding Christmas presents and a little girl waking up to hug her toy Nutcracker. Had they been awake, in between, they would’ve witnessed community ballet at its finest.
Meet the Cast of Characters:
The Old Guy who Wants to Try Dance: This is the “old” guy who thinks he can act but decided to try his hand at “dancing” who manages to Rex Harrison his way through the dance. Which is to say he just really walks through the ballet.
The Beautiful Dancer Who Never Went Anywhere: This is the woman who should’ve gone to New York and become a great ballerina but instead stayed home in Wichita because she was too scared and now stars in any community ballet production.
Idealistic Child: This is the girl who can dance and will someday become the Beautiful Dancer Who Never Went Anywhere.
Awkward Teenage Boy Trying to Dance: The dancer that makes you cringe the most because he’s so socially uncomfortable but determined to prove that he can dance if he wants too.
Guy With No Business Being Up There (usually paired with Beautiful Dancer Who Never Went Anywhere): This is the guy who tries to catch the Beautiful Dancer Who Never Went Anywhere and manages 3/4 of the time to do it but also manages to look like he’s about to spin her into the orchestra pit at any moment.
The music was beautiful, the story compelling, and the dancers entertaining, but not always as they meant to be.
