Just before Thanksgiving, I wrote about going to Ballet Austin to record the descriptive audio narration for the feature length film of the Nutcracker that is now available for home viewing. On Saturday, the Home for the Holidays package was released, and I felt a not so small swell of pride when I opened the page and saw this:
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It was a little weird to hit play and hear my own voice coming through the speakers on my computer...but it was exciting, too.
For two decades, Nutcracker has been a part of our lives...
When the Ballet Austin staff reached out during the summer, and asked if I would come into the studio and record the description for Act I (which would be sent to schools all over Central Texas so third graders would not miss their Nutcracker opportunity) I said, of course!
as soon as our daughter began taking classes at Ballet Austin Academy, her dream was to have a role in the performance. Once she was old enough - she did - every year for a decade. From her first year as an angel, to her last as a rat...when she was part of the "new" (now seven years old) production with updated battle scene choreography and costumes.
My involvement paralleled hers - not onstage, but behind the scenes. I drove carpool, wrangled angels and mice backstage and began voluntering as a docent...first at her elementary school, then at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impared, and finally (the year she went away to college - and Nutcracker no longer started in September for us), taking on descriptive narration for the school performances.
When they called again, just before Thanksgiving, to ask if I would be willing to return to do Act II, so they could include the narration with the full length film, I was honored.
It really wouldn't be the holidays around here with the Nutcracker - so we were delighted to be able to watch it at home (I now know how to cast from my phone to the television through the Roku). It was different from other years, too be sure, we were in our sweats on the sofa...but they were great seats...and we loved seeing our friends - many of whom are my daughter's former teachers - perform.
Not only is the film beautiful but Ballet Austin is offering extra digital content each day...including a hilarious bit where the rats run around the empty building wreaking havoc.
Just click on the Home for the Holidays link at the top of the post, and you, too can sit back and watch sugarplums dance across your screen.
Here's hoping that next year, we'll be back in our seats watching the Silberhaus family live and onstage again.
Until next time.
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