I just got back from the ballet with the 2 little girls, 8 years old, that I tutor. I think they liked it, though the original girl kept calling it a movie, and I had to correct her a few times. She has never been to a movie in a theater, which I hope to correct in the future, so she may not know exactly what makes a movie in a theater different than a live performance, which this was.
We saw
The Nutcracker, a traditional ballet to take the kids to at Christmastime. Before they went, at a recent lesson, I had the original girl read the plot of the ballet, and for the new girl, who is not a good-enough reader yet, I read it to her. I wanted them to be acquainted with the plot before we saw it so they would better understand what was going on. The new girl said several times, "That's not the way the story went." She is sharp. I'll have to ask her more about the differences tomorrow at our lesson. I did notice that in the scenario I read them, Clara, the little girl who gets the nutcracker for Christmas, fought off the mouse king in the story by throwing a slipper at him, but in the performance, she snuck up and hit him on the head. Does that really matter? When the new girl mentioned differences, I tried to explain how each live production might be a little different depending on how the people who make the ballet happen interpret it or decide to do it to be most effective or practical.
I think the new girl was less restless than the original girl, who wiggled quite a bit in her seat after about an hour sitting still. Maybe I just didn't notice. The new girl decided to sit behind us in the 2nd row. We sat in the first row so as to see the dancers close up, but the new girl wanted to be farther back, where she could see the whole stage. She said she wanted to see their feet. I let the girls work out where we'd sit before we got into the theater. They made a deal: If we didn't get front-row seats, we'd sit in the back. There was a balcony in the theater, and both girls wanted to go up there, but when I went to look, the stairs were roped off with a sign saying the balcony was closed. I returned to the girls to tell them that. We kept our seats.
I think the girls liked it, but I was surprised that I loved it. The last live ballet performance I saw was the same company, the Ithaca Ballet, performing
The Nutcracker about 20 years ago. At that time we had "adopted" a teenager who had a very unsettled life before she came to us, and she had not had much cultural exposure like this, so I thought seeing
The Nutcracker was something she should have in her repertoire of experiences. So we all, Bill, the teenager, and me, went to see it when we had just arrived in this area. I don't remember liking it as much as I did this time. So, as usual, I started thinking. Did I not appreciate it as much because of the more tense circumstances I was under then, or was it that the ballet company has matured and become better? Maybe both the ballet company and I have matured and become better? Is it easier to take 2 little girls who are in fairly secure families to it than a "daughter" who had had such trouble that she had a permanent attitude problem? Whatever, this time, I really enjoyed the performance.
There was one ballerina I thought was really good: Keara Soloway. She danced the secondary lead roles, not the top ones, but she was extraordinary! Why was she not more of a feature? Does the ballet company try to take turns and not always have the best dancer do the lead roles, just to give other talented dancers a chance? Was it political? I think she could go far in the big time as a dancer, but I see in the program that she is a junior at Cornell studying physics, so it's possible that she may choose to be a physicist rather than a prima ballerina. The 2nd favorite was a black guy who danced many supporting roles, as the guys usually do, and a few solos, but I couldn't figure out which one he was in the program. He wasn't featured as one of the company, so maybe he was a guest performer, which they said they often have.
And then there were the little kids, which was great for my girls to see. Kids their age performing in a professional ballet! They both take ballet lessons, and I thought they should see where this could go if they are serious, though they do small performances at their ballet school. I need to see them. I've never been told ahead of time when it will be. I think their parents only tell me about their performances if they want transportation for the kids, not just because somebody's going to be onstage.
It's a weird thing, being their tutor. I realize I'm paid help, but I feel about the kids like I'm their grandmother. It's a strange middle ground I inhabit.
So, tomorrow when I tutor them all, the girls are going to be assigned a writing assignment: a report on the ballet they saw. We will discuss it, of course, which may give them more ideas about what to write. Neither of them are short of ideas, but discussion can't hurt.
Also tomorrow, I gave all 3 of the older ones a fairly difficult puzzle. It doesn't need any advanced math, just adding and subtracting up to 5, but you have to think of a rather complicated set of actions way outside the box. I'm wondering if any of the kids will get a solution, and, if so, who. I didn't give them a deadline for solving the puzzle nor for choosing to not do it, but if anyone gets the right answer, they get 3 stones. Never have I awarded so many stones for any extra-credit thing. But this is a complex puzzle. Simple in the execution but complex in coming up with the strategy. Here's the puzzle, in case you are into straining your brain or seeing what kind of challenge I'm posing to 2 8-year-olds and one ten-year-old! Do you think an intelligent kid with all the time to figure it out could get the answer? Could YOU get the answer?
https://riddlesbrainteasers.com/four-gallons-two-buckets/
What Ya' Don't "Like" Mine . . .
