The following post I wrote over six years ago documenting some family history.
This past weekend, our eldest granddaughter appeared with Ballet Jörgen when the ballet company was in Summerside performing the ballet Anne of Green Gables. The story of Anne is based on the book of the same name by islander Lucy Maud Montgomery.
This Prince Edward Island story was beautifully done by Ballet Jörgen and our granddaughter’s participation in the performance fulfills a prediction she made years ago.
Written in April 2016:
As part of our Christmas tradition when our daughter was young, we read the story of the Nutcracker. It was one of the books she kept over the years and brought into her own family.
Her eldest wasn’t two when our daughter started reading the story of Clara and her Christmas dream/adventures. When she saw the video of the ballet, the little one was hooked. One day, as she watched, her grandfather attempted to engage her in conversation about the various characters and she commented, “I want to watch it by myself.” Poppy stopped talking!
She watched Angelina Ballerina as well and liked to do "ballet moves" as she called them, with the characters during each show. Our girl loved dance, especially ballet!
Her parents, wanting to encourage her interest, enrolled her in classes the year she turned three. She enjoyed them, with an enthusiasm that was infectious. Her younger sister started the ballet moves at an early age too and imitated her sister.
The younger girl was heart broken every time her sister headed off to ballet class because she couldn’t go.
The elder girl especially enjoyed the year-end show, where she was on stage twice.
She enjoyed every minute of the performance and is looking forward to this year's show when she is on stage three times. That girl has a flair for the dramatic as you can see.
Before Christmas last year, the family went to Moncton to see the local production of the Nutcracker and our girl was enchanted with everything about the show. Even the two year old, though a tad squirmy, was also fascinated with the performance.
Last weekend, their grandfather and I took the girls to see an afternoon performance of Sleeping Beauty by Ballet Jörgen at the local theatre. Tchaikovsky's music means ballet to the girls and when the curtain rose and the music started, they were enthralled. The older one was riveted for the whole performance while the younger checked in periodically. She was her three year old self for the two hour show.
Ready for Sleeping Beauty
While I love ballet and classical music, my husband is a country music fan, but he wanted to experience the performance with the girls. Besides, one of us could take a misbehaving child out of the theatre while the other stayed. We joked about him needing to be the one who would have to be taken out. His love of his granddaughters outweighed his own reluctance to watch ballet.
The older girl has told her mother that she dances in her dreams and has performed the role of Clara from the Nutcracker. On this day, during the intermission, before the curtain went up again, she told me, “You know Nanny, I'm going to be up there one day."
Who knows what Sylvie will do, what she will become? Her ability may not match her interest in ballet. I do know that for a five year old, she has an incredible attention span and interest in dance, especially ballet. We, her family, will continue to encourage her to follow her dreams.
Next year, it's Swan Lake...without her grandfather!
