The Nutcracker

Monday night we went to Savannah Center again, this time to see the Nutcracker, performed by the Dance Alive National Ballet.  This is a professional ballet company based in Gainsville, Fl.  So, you can see, we get more than just local talent here.

 The performance was very good, although the set changes took longer than I would have liked.  I think there were a lot of people in the audience who had never been to see the Nutcracker and didn't know what to expect.  When the curtains closed between acts 1 and 2 for the scenery change, it appeared that some people thought this was the intermission and got up to use the rest rooms.  The fact that the overture was playing and the house lights were down did not make an impact.   This scenery change took at least 10 minutes, so it could have been an intermission.

The only thing that really bothered me about this performance was the audience, not the ballet.  I guess you might call me a concert snob, but I get annoyed when people talk during a show.  In this case, there were people all around us talking during the ballet and, to an even greater extent, during the overtures.  Granted, the overtures were recordings, not a live orchestra, but they are still an integral part of the ballet.

OK, enough of that.  The ballet was very enjoyable and  I saw a number of little girls during the intermission dancing around the lobby, obviously inspired.  Shows at the Savannah Center and several other venues are open to the public, but residents of the Villages get a discount.  The theater is set up with about 25 rows of floor seats and a section of bleacher seats behind.  For the first few events we attended here we had floor seats but this time I got seats in the bleachers because, for a ballet, I wanted to be able to see the performers feet.  For the future, I will stick to floor seats.  Both of us had knee pain by the end of the evening because the seats are stationary and there is just nowhere to stretch your legs.  This is one of the drawbacks to being both tall and old. ;-))