Urban Ballet: Nutcracker

Tonight was a fun night. Angie, Meg, Autumn and I went to see Nutcracker at the Urban Ballet Theatre in Manhattan, New York. The tickets were only $15 and it was a really nice and small theatre; the only negative point was that I think the heat was on high and it kind of smelled like a Hot Yoga room. If you don't know what that smells like, try out a class in a very poorly ventilated studio and you'll have an idea of how putrid the smell can be. lol

The ballet itself was very well done. It definitely had an urban feel to it; the mannerisms, the attitude and some of the situations all had an urban tone to them. There were times when they overlaid a hip hop beat on the Nutcracker classical piece and danced hip hop in a ballet-ish way. Interesting and entertaining.

There were a few parts that really had us laughing in our seats so we decided to re-enact them once the ballet was over. I'll describe the scenes here so that when you see the videos, we don't look like complete fools.

Scene 1 - Antonio Banderas look alike with a beer gut and a cape!
Original:

• One of the characters in the play was a magician with a big cape and a big belly to match. He looked a little like Antonio Banderas just not as good looking. He wasn't at all in the physically fit condition of a dancer but he definitely knew how to work his cape; he kept running around the stage fluttering the cape.

Re-enactment:

• Cast: Angie (Antonio); Meg (little girl)

Scene 2 - Nutcracker vs Rat King - painfully long death
Original:

• In one of the scenes there was a party of rats that were fighting against a party of nutcracker dolls. It was one of the scenes where there was hip hop music in the back ground. At one point a gigantic rat (the leader of the group, I presume) entered into the scene and started going crazy. After a mock fight with one of the dolls, he finally got stabbed with a sword. However, instead of dropping to the ground and dying, he somehow seemed to get a sudden burst of energy that allowed him to prance around the stage before he finally died.

Re-enactment:

• Angie (nutcracker doll); Magna (cat - should have been a rat but for some reason we kept thinking he was a cat when we were doing the re-enactment...oh well)

Scene 3: Out of sight
Original:

• This was actually a very beautiful dance. The scene opened with a few background dancers doing some tribal dancing which was followed by a very beautiful dance between the lead male and female dancers. The female dancer had a veil over her face for quite some time while the male dancer was lifting her around. It was a very soft and sensual dance. Our version was nothing of the sort.

Re-enactment:

• Meg (female veiled dancer); Magna (blind-folded back up dancer and lifter)

Scene 4: Ribbons Ribbons Ribbons!
Original:

• A solo dance for one guy with a bunch of ribbons that he would pull across the stage. Very pretty and also very flamboyant.
  

Re-enactment:

• Magna (flamboyant soloist who is in love with ribbons); Meg (ribbon end); Angie (ribbon end)

Overall a very fun night with the ladies. I have a tendency to get crazy when I'm out with friends; this is a very good example of what people end up doing when around me. Let that be a warning to everyone out there - if you aren't the type of person to have fun..crazy fun..keep your distance or just be a spectator! lol