Tchaikovsky, Top Hat and Tails or Dancing Fool Debut
Check this one off of my to-do list: I have danced with the Tuzer Ballet Company performing in Tchaikovsky's Nut Cracker at the Eismann Center in Richardson - I am not making this up. Four performances over the Friday through Sunday preceding the Christmas Holiday. I appeared as Herr Uffervasser, one of the parents in the opening party scene where Maria is presented with the Nutcracker gift. I enter the party with my "Nutcracker wife" and our 5 kids, act conversational during the festivities with the other party-goers, move to backstage and applaud and approve of the real dancing by the ballerinas. I then listen for my cue and with my wife arm-in-arm we move to center stage and perform two "social dances" before exiting the party of Scene I. I had to work really hard to learn my few basic steps; for example step, pause, step, pause, turn and bow to partner, pivot arm-in-arm, walk back to starting place. Meanwhile, I marvel at the other trained dancers who can lightly and quickly fill any role and stay in step with all the other dancers and the music score. Ol' Mr. Tchaikovsky did not have me in mind when he choreographed this seasonal ballet. I'm no kind of dancer.
So how did a ramblin' old West Texas Wildcatter get suited up for the Nutcracker suite? Some old friends, the Davey's have a 15 year old daughter who has danced ballet for a dozen years, and her parents are active in supporting the Tuzer Company. Ken had danced the party parent part for a number of years but was wanting to move on to more administrative roles. Ken gave me a call, and I liked the idea of being on stage with a top hat and tails. I figured I could stretch myself and learn a few steps. Should I ever have to put together a resume, having danced in the Nutcracker - if not exactly relevant for the oil industry, it would certainly be an attention grabber. And isn't that what all the job placement people say you need?
I find life more vivid and derive enthusiasm from occasionally trying something way off base from the usual routine. This was it! I managed to meet my top 2 marks: 1. Not embarrassing the Ballet Company 2. Having fun on stage. Along with that, I enjoyed getting a look at the backstage operation of a $70,000 production. Matt, one of my "Nutcracker children" always seemed willing to talk with me as we got ready in our Men/Boys dressing room. Getting ready for our final performance, Matt said "I really like you because you are nice to me". Now I did not notice anybody ever not being nice to him, nor did I think I was especially kind beyond normal civility. But perhaps we shared an 8-year old spirit - only my kindred spirit was packed in grey whiskers. We of course had a couple of stage moms who would walk into our dressing room to fuss with their boys - whom provided genuine theatrics in their own right, rather adorable among 1st through 4th graders. Meanwhile the stage moms felt a need to share their hostility toward the volunteer seamstress mom with me. Reeeoooow. It is interesting to stand in the wings and watch the two lead dancers (husband & wife hired from the Boston Ballet) dance and leap and move effortlessly under the lights on stage, only to come into the wings pouring sweat, doubled over trying to catch their breath as if they had just sprinted a mile, and then take in one last gasp of air and glide back out into the dreamworld of the stage.
So what kind of reviews did I get? My Mom & Dad (who thought they were finished with attending my stage performances 30 years ago) endured airline Christmas travel crunch on top of flight delays, on top unscheduled 24-hour lay-over in Las Vegas, on top of screwed up reservation (on part of screwed up airline) on top of misplaced luggage, arriving at midnight the day before my debut. After all of that effort, they said that they liked it OK, but that they would not ever do it again. My son, did not tell me how much he enjoyed seeing his father appear on stage, as he spewed his dinner on the way out of the auditorium immediately following my scene. Up chucked. Up staged. 'Nough said. He went home with his mother and never saw the final curtain.
He rode those waves of nausea into Christmas morning.
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