Imagine Ballet Theatre | The Nutcracker | Field Trippin'

Last year our daughter was 5 and in her second year of ballet classes. She started begging us to take her to a real ballet performance and I finally caved and took her to see Imagine Ballet Theaters' performance of The Nutcracker thinking she would find the show too long for her attention span. Instead she spent the entire night on the edge of her seat and couldn't stop talking about it for weeks. So this year we decided to make it a new tradition and again had the Imagine Ballet Theatre host us for their annual production of The Nutcracker.

This year however her dad took her to the show instead and she was so excited to get all dressed up and go out on her fancy date to the theatre. What I originally thought would be too much for a kid, actually ended up being perfect.

Unlike a traditional play, ballets tell a story purely through pantomime, which means that it was even easier for her to follow the story line and understand what was happening on stage than many of the plays she was been to that often involve scripting that she doesn't always get.

Since last year when she originally fell in love with the story we also took her to a local school production of The Nutcracker as well, but it wasn't as well done as the Imagine Ballet Theatre's version, so I think we'll be sticking with their show for our daughter's Christmas tradition from now on.

One of the things that really sets it apart from some of the others is that they always have a live orchestra performing the music for the show. It is rare to find opportunities for our kids to hear live orchestra music these days, so it was fun for her to hear how beautiful the instruments sounded. Especially since she just started violin lessons and I like for her (and myself!) to realize what her potential is. I also love that it is never too late to start traditions. Our family has never been very into ballet performances, but learning to take an interest in things our kids enjoy has broadened our horizons and created some fun new memories together!