Crack This

A month ago, Amanda and I bought tickets to see The Washington Ballet's The Nutcracker at the Warner Theater, and as the day inched near, we got more and more excited.

I don't know if you lovely people are aware of this little fact, but I studied classical ballet for twelve years. If I hadn't been more interested in school, I probably would have pursued a career in dance. But then I discovered history and museums, and it was all books and nerdiness from then on. Plus, high school was super fun with student council, track, band (have I mentioned I'm a nerd?), and boys, and I wouldn't have made time for dance - I made the decision after ninth grade.

Anyway, even with my dance background, I had never seen a professional ballet performance. The Warner Theater is absolutely beautiful, and the acoustics were very good.

I was ready: good seats and tissues for the tears of excitement. We had a great view on the main floor with fairly short people sitting in front of us. That is, until the grandma-perfume woman with a huge bouffant switched seats as the curtain was going up on the first act, and blocked both of our views. Awesome.

And the children. The children. 7 p.m. on a Friday night is probably okay for some kids, and the majority of them were fine for the first act, but after 45 minutes of sitting still, they were not amused with the second act - mostly ballet and not much else. I lost track of the amount of times the little girl behind me sneezed on my neck, and the little 2-year-old boy in front of us, now sitting on his father's lap, was squirming so much, I think that I saw about 7% of the performance.

I know that I need to be more assertive, and should have asked the people in front of us to stay in their original seats, but then maybe their children wouldn't have been able to see (not that they were watching anyway). Yes, we all paid the same amount for our tickets, but I guess it's a bit of a slippery subject. I was there for the music and the dance and was completely mesmerized by the dancers' feet alone - when I could see the stage, and they were there to see a Christmas-y performance.

And I'm short, so I've accepted that I'm not going to be able to see things. From football games to concerts, I'm usually fine with peeking through the crowd or just watching the action on the big screen. Unless I shell out for front row or aisle seats, I have to expect that I am probably not going to see much. It's not tall guy's fault that he's tall!

I'll just have to go back to see another ballet. Maybe on a weeknight. If Sleeping Beauty is ever performed here, I'll be first in line for tickets.