Nutcracker Surprise Essay

At a very young age my mother asked me “do you want to do dance or gymnastics?” and I remember my reply was instantly “dance!”. From that moment forward I completely fell in love with ballet, and a couple of years ago I decided I would like to see myself grow up to become a professional ballerina.

Another one of my passions is dance. Since the age of three I have been dancing. Whether it is on stage, at a competition, or just in front of my family, I found a love for this art. Around the age of thirteen I began student teaching; because of this, I found a liking for helping people become more confident in themselves and their dance technique. Not only did I learn to dance, but I also built confidence, learned great stage presence and to have respect for everyone. These are all lessons that will remain with me for life.

In modern times, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker, is a Christmas classic. With memorable songs and beautiful instrumentation, many cannot imagine Christmas without it. Dance companies perform the ballet year after year with spectators coming to watch annually. There have even been LGBT, hip hop, and Jewish adaptations to the popular ballet (Begley). Thousands of musicians and dancers all over the world perform it to add to the excitement and cheer of the holidays.

The first experience of watching a ballet, for me or any little girl, can be fascinating and exhilarating. Wondering how a dancer can be so steady on her toes as she spins in circles and leaps through the air. Watching a ballet, there is a feeling of wanting to be graceful, as well as the warm sensation felt by a little girl as she slips into dream land. My mom had taken me to my first ballet when I was 11 years old. When we returned home home, she signed me up for classes at the local dance center. The expectations to become a prima ballerina would involve much hard work and concentration. I knew when I started it would take years of steady practice and commitment. Learning the history of ballet and the famous

I was the only one who was fearful for what was about to happen because the humiliation of being unprepared to perform in front of the whole school left me with a sense of angst. Color guard was just called up to perform and as the music started, cheers were ringing through the gym. Everyone seemed excited for the performance, yet I remember everything going in slow motion: students yelling, teachers clapping, and yet my girls looked clueless. This was the moment I was dreading since before the school year started.

Then we started to warm up because we had a judge's preview. So basically we just went into a classroom and performed our dance it was really scary at first, but then it got better because I knew they weren’t judging us that

Growing up was never easy for me, but I did not let that stop me from pursuing my ballet career. I didn’t grow up doing ballet, and taking my first ballet class at the Boys and Girls Club at age 13 gave me a setback compared to others who may have been dancing since they were 3. My teacher put me into many positions,

I have danced every year of my life since. I am humbled to say, that through long days and nights in the studio, sacrificing time with my friends and family, all of the blood, sweat, and tears, I have accomplished what I have been working for since I was a little girl waddling around swallowed in a big pink tutu. I was chosen for the lead role of Cinderella in the Danscompany of Gainesville’s “Cinderella Ballet.” This accomplishment is a reflection of my consistent and sustained work ethic. This tenacity is reflected in other areas of my life and will be a defining characteristic that I carry to

there was so many people out there seating in their seats clapping cheering it was amazing. When we start dancing there where so much enthusiasm going through my body I felt exuberant! The stage lights on was perfect with music and the people in their seats cheering, clapping, and really, enjoying themselves and I loved every minute of it. It made me feel special that I was part of something great. Finally, my dream came true to dance and to dance in front of a lot of people and I knew right there that this was not going be my last performance. After we were done, my group and I told each other how much we were proud of each other. Then later we all meet up with our parents and went home with smiles on are faces because it was the best moment of my

Cinderella would always eat when she was out, she started to gain a lot of weight. Food became her addiction. One day as Cinderella was doing all of the house chores, she heard a knock at the door, she went to go answer it and it was someone from the Kingdom. He told her that it was very important, so Cinderella brought it into the other room where Elora and the girls were and handed them the letter. Elora opened it and read it out loud. It was an invitation to the ball to meet Prince Jourdian. This ball was taking place in three months.

I’ve grown up in a ballet studio. Not literally, of course, but it is where I’ve spent the majority of my childhood. Throughout the years, the arts have followed me despite the different places life has taken me. Whether it be dance, acting, or music, performing has always played a role in my life. My experiences both on and off the stage have been rocky and unpredictable, but I wouldn’t trade this thrilling adventure for the world.

"The Nutcracker ballet is a timeless tale that brings wonder and magic to audiences of all ages and helps fulfill

I started performing in the ballet, The Nutcracker when I was very young. Each year my parents took me to the same audition where I painfully waited two weeks to find out what role I had received. I had large parts and I had small parts, but my sweet Nutcracker memories always remained the same. As a devoted ballet student, I began to ponder what I wanted to do with my life. For a while I wanted to be a doctor, then a teacher, and one day I thought maybe even being a marine biologist would be fun. However, these thoughts quickly slipped away as I became increasingly more passionate about dance. Every year as I watched the older dancers perform the lead role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, I knew that I wanted to be that someday too. But Ballet is hard, and I was easily discouraged. I often told myself that I would never be good enough for the gorgeous gold and deep plumb colored tutu. So I slowly descended down a path of self confidence issues and a hate for the one thing that I had once loved most, ballet.

One evening a knock was heard at our front door, it was a message from the Prince! A royal ball was to be taken place in his castle to find his bride. I just know he'll choose me, I was meant for royalty! I showed mother and Anastasia the invitation, they were just as trilled as i was, and the funny this was, Cinderella was excited too. I don't know why she thought she deserved to go after not even finishing her chores for the week. Mother told her she couldn't go unless everything was finished but to make sure she could not go, mother made the list unbelievably long. Cinderella did not take it well. She was going crazy talking to the mice in the wall, telling them all about how unfair it was.

At the age of three I was finally allowed to start ballet, once a week at three in the afternoon. My little kid dream was granted to me, I was ecstatic! Fast forward from August 2004 to November 2004 and I’m already preparing to dance in my first performance, The Nutcracker. My role was one of the petite snowflakes. The costume was a snowy white fluffy tutu with silver crystal beading stitched into the tool material.