Swan Lake

I told you yesterday that Sport made his debut in Swan Lake. He was a cute little trumpeter complete with a feather in his cap. He wasn’t the only one. All told we had five kids strutting their stuff or honking their horns (do swans honk?) as the case may be. They gave three performances and we attended the last one. I knew we had kids in every Act so I didn’t want to be late. We climbed into our seats about two minutes before the opening music to Act I started. 

Since this was an artsy-fartsy show, I fought my droopy eyelids in the semi-darkness until somebody familiar entered. It was the Dog Walker. He had his arm around a cute little girl in a red tutu. Under any other circumstances he might have been ecstatic that he was sporting such a hottie on his arm. But because he was in the middle of the stage and that girl was expecting him to lift her and spin her and generally make her be amazing, he looked a bit nervous. He shouldn’t have been. He did everything just right…I breathed a sigh of relief, but it only lasted a second because right after that Crafty came out with her group. Man, that girl can work a crowd! She dances with the biggest grin on her face. 

Before I had time to fall asleep again, it was the intermission. Baby Doll was awake in her car-seat and demanding attention. As I lifted her out I was hit with a nasty aroma. I was fumbling through my purse looking for a diaper when they dimmed the house lights again. Act II was about to begin. Princess had a dominating role as one of the main swans. I could tell she was nervous, but I’m not sure why because she did an amazing job! Meanwhile, Scout squirmed next to me in her seat. "Do you have to go potty?" I whispered. She nodded her head vigorously and squirmed some more. Baby Doll was also whimpering. I took one last glance at the stage where my beautiful Princess was still performing, tucked Baby Doll under one arm, grabbed Scout’s hand with the other, and bolted for the door. 

The Valse des cygnes from Act II of the Ivanov/Petipa edition of Swan Lake

 

We headed quickly to the restroom. I pushed open a stall door for Scout and looked around for the diaper changing station. Duh! We were in a Junior High School. There wasn’t even a counter to lay my little one on. I backed my way into the next stall, locked the door, and found the only seat available. Thank goodness she didn’t have any leaks! It actually turned out pretty good…I had toilet paper handy to wipe up the excess and a tiny garbage can for diaper disposal. We made it back in for Act III. 

My cute little trumpeter was the first one on stage. It wasn’t long before he was joined by Crafty and Prima Donna, each doing separate dances. Prima Donna looked great even though she was wearing one of those goofy red and yellow costumes I sweated over last week. The Dog Walker came back on stage too. Then the little trumpeter blew his imaginary trumpet for the princesses. There were five of them dressed in powder-blue tutus. Mine performed an amazing solo (if I were the prince I would have picked her…) and she would be mad at me if I didn’t say her friends were amazing as well. I’m not sure I noticed that they were amazing though, because I was too busy watching the trumpeter. 

I’m pretty sure he was supposed to just stand there and look like part of the furniture, but every time I looked at him he was yawning, or wiggling the feather in his cap, or mimicking whichever princess happened to be dancing at the moment. Just for a little variety he also twirled his trumpet around and around on the silken cord about his neck. At one point he almost tipped over the scenery! And you thought Rothbart was the evil one! When the show was over, we stood around waiting with the other parents for the dancers to come out. I had quite a few comments on what a beautiful job the girls did (Princess’s boyfriend was there and even brought her flowers!). The Gym Rat commented about the Dog Walker and his way with the girls, but I had by far the most comments about the little trumpeter who kept everyone from falling asleep. And I thought I was the only hick around here…