Opening night

Its the day. THE day. The opening night of Nutcracker. Months of rehearsals and we're finally here. She had a day off school as there was no point trying to fit getting her there and home again in with doing the hair & getting into the city in time. 

We got a train in to save battling with parking arrangements etc. In a nice moment, we ended up on the train with B's husband - on his way to her! So he sent B a photo telling her that he's bringing some extras. 

This afternoon was dress rehearsal. She came out absolutely delighted. We had to take the children away for a break and she was being so good.  We had a chat with B, who gave her a wee pep talk. As we walked over to the theatre, I said to her suspiciously "Katie, why are you so calm?" "Mama, I'm trying not get overexcited". We continued up the street and turned round the corner. When she saw the theatre, she stopped "EEEEEEE .... I can't do it mama!!!! EEEEEEE!!" and the excited exploded in a bundle of energy & delight. 

It might be a terrible photo - it's a screen shot of a video - but this very special shot is Katie, in the Northern Ballet's Nutcracker, photographed by King Rat. On stage with the Sugar Plum Fairy (Minju Kang) and the Cavalier (Javier Torres). This is her second act part - "Attendant" - where she does some really excellent Corps de Ballet practise. She stood, sat or knelt beautifully still for 4 or 5 dances. This had followed a gorgeous first act where they dance really very hard for a long time. She was fabulous. She has a couple of moments of acting that she's the focus on a very full stage and she nailed them. She was beautiful in her dances and everything seemed to go well. The smile on her face took no acting. She was just absolutely delighting in every second she was there. I was so proud of her. She was fabulous. The whole production was brilliant. Fun, light hearted but very top standard. It was great and she was total joy to watch.  

A group of friends had come to see Katie perform tonight so when I went to collect her, one of them met her from the door with flowers and asked her to sign her programme. This thoroughly delighted her. We also chatted to some other friends, who are musicians, and introduced Katie to the horn player. Her teacher had taken her to the entrance to the pit in the interval and she chatted to a couple of the musicians - she's arranged for her to go in the pit properly on Friday night! 

Katie absolutely insisted that she wasnt at all tired when we got in, despite it being 10.30 pm at the end of a looooong day. I told her she had to go to bed anyway but could read. She promptly fell asleep, dropping her book on her own face.. 

A couple of extras tonight... Red team party children pre-show and then  ready to go