It’s just not the holiday season in this household without a trip to the SF ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker”. Jodi and I put on our sunday best last night and headed up to the city for a wonderful and transportive night of dance, music, and sets. As you can see, we clean up fairly well once you wash all the nerd off.
As usual, traffic was a nightmare. We left at 5:30 for a 7:00 performance, and arrived just 10 minutes before the curtain went up. We pretty much had to take our seats right away. This year, Jodi decided to try putting us in orchestra seats, about 7 rows back from the pit. This gave us a stunning view of the stage, and also the ability to see every little gaff with costumes. Bits fell off here and there as the dancers did their thing. Apart from the semi-voyeuristic vantage point we had on technical glitches, the performance was, as usual, stunning. This is among the best performances in the nation, and the mutability of the sets and costumes are executed with daring precision. The dancing is excellent, and somehow the best dancers always seem to be given the parts of the Nutcracker, Clara, and the Russian dancers.
Although our lateness to the show prevented us from relaxing beforehand with some chocolates and maybe a glass of champagne (ah, unmitigated extravagance), we thoroughly enjoyed this performance. It finally feels like we’re hitting the holidays.
