Christmas is coming...

Today is my day on the Virtual Advent Tour. Last year I decided to tell everyone about my family's tradition of going to see the Christmas Revels every December. Of course we're going again this year, and for anyone who's curious, this year's theme (at least for the Puget Sound Revels) is Victorian England which should be a lot of fun. However, the Revels is not what I wanted to share with you this year.

This year, I wanted to talk about The Nutcracker. I am big fan of ballet, having taken lessons from age 5 to 18. I stopped after I graduated high school, and while I don't do it anymore I still love watching. During my years of dancing, I performed in the Nutcracker 5 times, once when I was little and during all four years of high school. I've performed as a gumdrop, a flower, a snowflake (three times), a Russian, a Chinese, a Spanish, and even the Rat King. Of the four scenes in the show, the only one I never danced in was the party scene. The dance everyone seems to know and like the best is the Russian Dance, so here's a video (definitely not of me).

   

 One thing I've always loved about ballet is the tradition of it. By that, I mean, while you can go and see new pieces being performed all the time by professional companies, there are some things that are always the same. If you go see Swan Lake or Giselle, there are certain famous pieces where they choreography has remained practically unchanged from the original choreography. The Nutcracker is the same, there are certain traditions I really like. I like that Mother Ginger (or Marshmallow) is most of the time played by a man and she runs around stage trying to keep her little babies hidden under her skirts. I especially like the four "country dances" and seeing those countries represented in costume. Sadly...I live in Seattle. And while we have a wonderful ballet company with a world famous Nutcracker, partly due to the fact that the sets including a huge animatronic Rat King were designed by Maurice Sendak (of Where the Wild Things Are), it's not The Nutcracker I know and love. The music is out of order, the country dances are interpreted very weirdly, and they don't even have a Sugar Plum Fairy. But that is okay because other people love it and it's adding to their Christmases just like it added to mine.

    

 Last thing I want to mention. The Nutcracker will always make me think of Christmas. I love hearing the music, I love the story (even though my sister, the librarian, likes to tell me how wrong the ballet is when compared to the actual story by ETA Hoffmann), but it has a specail place in my heart for another reason. December 5, 1999 was closing night of my first year dancing the Nutcracker with the studio I danced with during 

high school. I was a freshman in high school and wasn't part of the company yet (those were the advanced dancers), but would be within the next year. I sort of knew this one girl (Betty) who was part of the company. We went to rival schools, and from the little we knew of each other we didn't like each other much. We had dressing areas that were next to each other backstage, so this last night of the Nutcracker we finally ended up talking to each other. Now here it is, December 5, 2010, and though she lives in Hollywood now and I'm in still in Seattle, I just got a text message from my best friend wishing me a happy 11 year anniversary. Here we are in the picture...apparently we're saving the environment.

Merry Christmas to all...

This is the first year I'm participating in the Virtual Advent Tour and I'm so excited! Click the picture link to take you to the tour's blog and check out all the other Christmas awesome-ness!

There is a lot of tradition that goes into Christmas in my family, so today I wanted to talk about two of my favorites.

My family has always been extremely musical, and we all enjoy musical theater. So several years ago we decided to check out the Puget Sound Revels, which are an affiliate of the Revels which began in Cambridge in the 70s. What is the Revels? It's a little hard to explain, but I'll try because it is just so awesome. Basically, the Revels is a musical celebration of Christmas (though some of the groups in different areas put on other seasonal shows). Each year there is a different influence (like Italian Renaissance, Medieval England, or French Canadian) and the Revelers put on a show of traditional Christmas song, dance, and pantomime. I say Christmas, but actually a lot of it is even pre-Christian and so is really a celebration of Yule and the changing seasons rather than Christmas. So when I say traditional music, I mean REALLY traditional. It's a lot of fun. The music is great, the performers are great, and there's even lots of audience participation. Every year I hope they pull my dad up onstage. It hasn't happened yet, but there's always next year. There are carols that are printed in the program so that the audience can sing along when the time comes, and every year at the end of Act One, they do a Morris dance to the song "Lord of the Dance" which ends with everyone in the audience grabbing hands and dancing through the aisles and eventually up on stage with the Revelers. I've only managed to get onstage once, but like I said I can always try again next year. Watch the video below to see "The Lord of the Dance" complete with audience dancing by the end, and to get an idea of the show.



This year (this past Sunday) was my fifth time seeing the Christmas Revels. Past themes were Medieval England, Elizabethan England, French Canadian, and Eastern Europe. This year was Moorish and Sephardic songs from the Ottoman Empire, taking place when the Jews were expelled from those lands and fled to places like England. Going to see the Revels is one of the highlights of my Christmas season, and I would HIGHLY recommend the show to anyone. If you click the link here you can find out more and see if there is a Christmas Revels near you (there aren't too many off the coasts unfortunately).

My other Christmas tradition I wanted to mention is much more bookish. Seeing as this is my book blog I felt there should be something bookish in my post. We have had this one Christmas book in my family since I can remember, The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury. And since I've been little we've done just that. Every Christmas Eve, my family sits around the tree and we pass this book around and read aloud the stories and poems and songs. I think originally we read different things each year, but over time we became attached to certain stories so now we always repeat the same ones. My dad always reads the story of Babushka, and I always read the story of the little blue dishes and read the thank you note poem. My sisters and I are all in our 20s now, but still, Christmas can't start until we've read our stories. Well, these are my Christmas traditions and I hope you enjoyed them!