Twinkle on the Toes

Ballet

Dare I confess that I love the Nutcracker Ballet?  

Even though it's a simple story meant for children,  its charm endures. Tchaikovsky's music sets my body swaying and my feet tapping.  When danced brilliantly, as it was last night by the Washington Ballet Company at the elegantly appointed Victorian Warner Theater, I was mesmerized by the brilliant costumes, stage lights on snow flakes, and the kinetic leaps, twirls and lifts of the lithe men catching long-legged women in sparkling tutus and tiaras.  The children danced their roles as teasing little kids, dancing mice, acrobatic clowns, solemn angels, and scurrying mushrooms.  And, don't forget the sugar-plum fairies!  Magnificent! For a brief crazy moment, I wished I'd kept at those ballet lessons during my grammar school years. However, the mist cleared, I regained my sanity and remembered that no one in my family tree on either side had anywhere near a ballerina body type.  We are stocky, well fed, meat and potato eating mid-westerners. As the second act opened, I sank into my seat just pleased to take it all in like a kid again, waiting to see what comes next in Clara's dream under the spell of Drosselmeyer's magic, beneath the Christmas tree.  Catch the spirit. Watch snippets here.

Dare I say my reputation as a baker is redeemed?  Six dozen perfect sugar cookies, deliciously decorated with an icing syringe.  And...drum roll please!  They taste great -- a hint of almond tickles the taste buds as I bite into a softly baked wonder.