Nutcracker 2009

Katie auditioned for Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theatre's Nutcracker for the second year, and this year as I previously wrote, she was cast for 6 performances as a gingerchild.

This meant 2 hour long practices every Saturday pretty much since September. And these practices are held at 8 in the morning. She loved it and couldn't wait each and every morning to get there.

Then several weeks into practices, I got a phone call late one night, asking if Katie would be willing to play the part of one of the boy ginger Dolls. She did this role last year as a girl, so I talked to her and she was thrilled!! This meant instead of 6 performances she would dance in all 14 shows.

So for several weekends she practiced the 2 hour gingerchild, 1 hour of ginger doll, and then a 2 hour Act 1 Scene 1 rehearsal on Sundays, and a 2 hour Act 2 rehearsal several hours later. Not once did she ever complain, and typically she couldn't wait to get there.

And to add to it, she almost did another part for 2 school performances to fill in for one of her best friends who had gotten sick. It would have been as gingerchild but doing a different part in the dance that they would have taught to her literally 30 minutes before the show started. But because of the make-up changes involved, and the fact that another girl was backstage that knew the role, I asked if they could see if the other girl could do it.

So here she is starring for the first year as Gingerchild #2.

At the very end of the trail of gingerchildren.

And playing boy ginger doll after doing gingerchild one day. Can you see the white ring around the face??

One more rehearsal, and 6 more shows to go!