going to see the nutcracker.

Yesterday was a busy day. To start the day off, I met my friend in the morning for brunch in Lower Queen Anne. After stuffing ourselves with eggs, bacon, and toast, we then walked over to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall and went to Urban Craft Uprising.

Urban Craft Uprising is a craft show where local artists and crafters sell their hand-crafted goods. It started in 2005 and has become something I look forward to attending each year. There’s always a wide variety of wares being sold, for example, handmade soaps, paper products, dyed yarn, clothing, pottery, and artwork, to name a few. This year, there was even a booth selling tamales. There were so many vendors, it got a bit overwhelming at times.

My friend and I browsed the aisles at Urban Craft Uprising for about an hour or so and then it was time to walk across the way to McCaw Hall where we had tickets to the matinee performance of the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

As usual, the performance was fabulous. I had not been to the ballet in a few years; the last time I went was in 2018. And of course, I didn’t go for the past couple of years due to the pandemic. But it was great attending this year and I had a lot of fun.

I am always in awe of the skill involved in performing and putting on the show. There are so many young children in the ballet and I thought they all did a fantastic job. I can’t imagine what it would be like to perform on the stage in front of so many people at such a young age.

I also love the choreography and especially the staging for the larger groups of dancers. The way the ballerinas weaved in and out of each other and were constantly moving across the stage was stunning to watch. I kept thinking that for sure, someone was going to run into another person but it never happened. Also, with the way that everyone keeps moving, no one was in the back row for long. I felt like all the dancers had a chance to shine, no matter their role.

The ballet is trying to combat some of the racial stereotypes that were seen in some of the second-act dances. For instance, the Chinese tea dance has been changed to Green Tea Cricket. The ballet does date back to almost 130 years ago and what might have seemed appropriate then, is not as appropriate now. I am all for updating and getting rid of offensive stereotypes and caricatures. I also loved all the POCs that were in the show.

My favorite performance is a toss-up between the Marzipans and the Flowers. In my opinion, they also had the best costumes. But everything about The Nutcracker is joyful and so much fun!