Chloe's Nutcracker experience: The Performances!!!

As the curtain went up our hearts were beating a billion miles an hour.  We felt excited and nervous all in one.  We were SO proud of Chloe and the amazing job she did.  We were a bit surprised to see that Chloe was such a good actress in addition to being such a great ballet dancer.

Meet Clytie Adams: Music and Art Director

I'm sure all of you are familiar with the story of "The Nutcracker".  The pictures below will tell the story best:

I love this part of the ballet.  Clara puts all of the dancers to "sleep"before she leaves the stage

This was my absolute favorite part of the ballet and even though we saw the performance 6 times, this tugged our heart everytime.  

Chloe is so graceful...even when she's receiving flowers

I like that they recognized the live orchestra-they did a phenomenal job

This was the last performance and a very emotional time for many. 

One last hug from "The Nutcracker" and a new good friend.

Chloe signed autographs for a while

This hug lasted for about 10 minutes it seemed.  Chloe's heart was full of gratitude for the experience and full of sadness that it had come to an end.  

Dad and Mom flew in from Cali just to see her perform.  

We tried to capture all of the family that came but didn't quite capture everyone.  Lori and Shawn, The Roths, Peels, Fraziers, Mortensons, Cheneys, Ballous & Belnaps all came

SO proud of you Chloe...

...we will never forget

Chloe's Nutcracker experience: The Dress Rehearsal

Finally...it was here.  We couldn't believe how fast time went by and finally the dress rehearsals and performances were here.  There were 2 dress rehearsals before the "real" performance.  The rehearsals were such long nights with all of the changes and suggestions that Clytie had for all of the dancers, in fact Chloe didn't get to bed before 1 a.m. on those 2 nights.  Luckily Chloe's first class teacher let her get away with coming in a bit late each day for school-it was necessary.  The pic above shows Chloe in her dress from some of the last scenes of the ballet.  

A quick pic by the large Christmas tree in the front lobby of the 

Browning Center.

 some better shots of one of the dresses that Chloe wore

 one proud Dad

 Here's one of the many cards that Kate made for Chloe...

 Chloe, Greta (Arabian dancer) & Emily (red soldier) after the dress rehearsal

Chloe, Sara (mouse) & Kate