Tag: ballet

The Nutcracker

Last year, I took Nadia to her first Nutcracker, and she was mesmerized with the performance, and was looking forward to this year’s one. This time, we also took Kira; I had somedoubts, especially because the way we got the seats, the girls were in the first row, and I was in the second row right behind them, ready to jump and put Kira on my laps. It was not necessary; although both girls fidgeted in their seats, theyloved the show. A very special Chicago Nutcracker was brilliant as always; I hope they will never change it 😊.

The introductory images with the pictures of the old newspaper articles about immigrant workers were as relevant as they could be!

Th usual pile of presents in the foyer

The official 2025 trailer:

The girls fidgeted the most during the Snowflake dance and during the final dance of the Sculptress, and indeed, if there are any “classic” parts in the Joffrey Nutcracker, these ones are. However, when I later asked them which parts they liked most, both of them mentioned these two. Kira said she wants to be one of these little Snowflakes :).

I especially liked this year’s Sculptress, her final dance was out of this world!

More of Joffrey Ballet Instagram (and you know I can talk about them for hours, so i ‘d rather stop now!)

Ten years of the Joffrey Nutcracker post:

Carmen At Joffrey

I do not think there was any week when I wouldn’t say “the week was crazy,” but the past two weeks were something! Not the worst days at work, but combined with an avalanche of conference-related issues I had to address, it was a perfect storm. At the same time, so many positive things happened that I can’t complain.

I was thinking about this paradox when I was walking towards the Lyric Opera building today: the ICE raids and everything that ICE is doing and Trump is saying are constant reasons to worry. Users at work are “creative” beyond imagination. Big and small things awaiting my intervention are piling up. I feel tired like I am ready to drop down and fall asleep on the spot.

And still – how full my life is! How thankful I am for a myriad of things!

Today, I did something I do not do very often: I worked from home for the only reason: to be able to take a break at the beach (because I am traveling next week, and any beach day can be the last for that season). And BTW, I am not packed for my trip. And what a gift! The air was 75F, the water was 72F, the sun was kissing, not burning, and there was no wind. And the same as on Sunday, I almost forgot to go back to work on time 🙂

But the best thing was in the evening – the Joffrey Ballet opening night! Carmen! A very long show, but good to the last drop! To the last note! It was great from the beginning, and was getting better and better every minute!

They took Bizet music, and told the whole unabridged story with all details, using the language of choreography, with humor, and tender, and passion, as only Joffrey ballet can do. My favorite ballet company ever :).

I hope they will post some videos later, but no promotional trailer would be able to show all the small details that made it so perfect, all facial expressions which I could clearly see from my row E 🙂

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Joffrey

I was there last night, and I didn’t realize it was not only the Joffrey’s opening night but also the first performance of this ballet on that side of the pond. It was unimaginably good, but so looong, it was torture on a weeknight! They should have at least started at 7 PM, not 7-30!

I read a rave review in the Tribune this morning. First, I wanted to post some quotes, but the article resonates with my impression so much (up to the choice of words!), that I will simply copy it at the bottom of this post.

Note – the ballet runs till June 22!

Continue reading “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Joffrey” →

Last Week In Review

I had some events to attend every day of that week, plus trying to get six hours of sleep every day (hopeless), plus everything else.

Out of the six cultural events I attended last week, one was “above categorization” (the screening of the “20 Days in Mariupol), two were in the category “OK, but I won’t lose much if I didn’t attend,” and three were great.

The two were “The Fat Ham” in Goodman

and “Clue” at the CIBC theater.

The audience was ecstatic at both shows, so I guess I should attribute my ambivalence to “I am not in the mood for “just funny” things” these days.

The ones I loved.

Continue reading “Last Week In Review” →

The First Nutcracker

On Sunday, I took Nadia for her first Nutcracker, and the experience was exactly as I hoped it would be! Anna read the story to the girls, and they listened to the whole ballet while driving to Chicago, so Nadia was ready and excited. We had tickets in the second row and were exceptionally lucky because nobody was sitting in front of Nadia! It had to be a last-minute cancellation because the whole first row was taken when I purchased these tickets.

Everything was pure magic! Nadia was entirely mesmerized by the performance, and for a good reason! I can’t even describe how much I love Chicago’s Nutcracker, where the story unfolds in the barracks of the immigrant workers summoned to construct the World Columbia Exposition!

I saw this Nutcracker at least six times, probably more, and I can’t stop admiring it!

Joffrey Ballet: Atonement

Going to see a ballet the night before my departure was a little bit tight, even if I wasn’t as busy as I ended up, but having all I had this week, it was a crazy idea. I think that if I wasn’t going with my neighbor, I would just stay at home and pack, but I didn’t want to let her down. And OMG, how glad I am that I went! The batter is brilliant! The more Joffrey performances I attend, the more I like them!

I didn’t know that this ballet was based on a novel; I only learned about it from the program notes. I still had the right days to read it, so I got an audiobook and listened nonstop, even when I usually listened to the news. I listened to it almost to the end by Thursday evening so I could follow the plot (and I shared it with my neighbor because otherwise, it would be almost impossible to figure out what was going on on stage).

The epilogue was quite unexpected, and I was eager to find out how the book ended. It turned out that the book ends… well, unexpectedly, but I am not going to put any spoilers here. I loved it! Some comments on Goodreads say that Part One is too slow and not engaging, but I can’t imagine it to be different. I loved the novel, the ballet, and the endings of both.

Joffrey’s Midsummer Night’s Dream

I am so sad I missed the first act! I actually wanted to buy one more ticket, but I was going to a Broadway show on Friday and to a local theater on Sunday, and there were no tickets for any of the two Saturday shows except for the seats on the very back.

This ballet has nothing to do with Shakepear’s play, and as always with Joffrey, there are no words to describe it!

Joffrey “Studies In Blue”

As I said, February is very culturally loaded. In addition to what was originally planned, since both my neighbor and I travel, we had to exchange several performances, and the exchanges ended up in February as well. “The Girl from the North Country ended up being a complete miss, and we left after the first act. I know that the show received many awards and a lot of praise from the critics, so I am ready to assume “that’s us ” or probably the mood we were both in.

Just to compensate for the disappointment, Joffrey’s “Studies in Blue” was flawless as usual! The program consisted of three one-act ballets: Yonder Blue (inspired by the book Plea for Eros), Hungry Ghosts (they didn’t say it, but the name is definitely derived from the Realm of Hungry Ghosts), and Hummingbird. I especially liked the set in Hummingbird (although I would love to know whether there was any specific meaning in it; it looked like the artists were floating out of some hidden realm :)). The Hungry Ghosts was a World Premiere, and I think that was the first time I had an opportunity to be present at such an occasion.

Frankenstein At Joffrey

I didn’t write anything about it because it was a complete Uber screw-up last night, and it took almost 40 minutes for me and my neighbor to finally get into a car (but we got Tesla:)). And having the ballet was very long I ended up being at home close to midnight.

But aside from getting home late, it was an amazing experience! Joffrey ballet amazes me pretty much each time I see their performance, but each time – in a new way.

Born and raised in Saint-Petersburg, I saw many classical ballets in my life, and I never doubt that Mariinsky Theater (“Marinka”) is the best in the world. When I first saw a Joffey performance, it struck me how lively a ballet can be! Several years later, Marinka was on the US tour, and I went to see the Swan Lake. That was yet another shock: the technique was flawless (after all, there is over 200 years of perfecting it!) but it looked like dry leaves in a herbarium in comparison with the live trees of Joffrey.

I do not know how Joffrey does it: it is classical ballet in its purest form, but at the same time, everybody is alive, you see a story, you see humans with their human feelings. The short clip does not show any of it, unfortunately. Also, it does not show the movements of the Creature – non-human, the movements of a live puppet, of something combined from several pieces, not all of them completely aligned. With all the horror and tragedy of the story, I was smiling the whole first act.

A Weekend Of Cultural Activities

I had my girls over this weekend, and that was the most cultural activities we ever had in one and a half days!

We went to the CSO for Kids concert, which was the first time for Kira. Straight from there, we went to the Art Institute and saw the Dali exhibit (Nadia actually liked it, and even Kira showed some interest). Fortunately, the Art Institute recently reopened its cafe, so we had lunch there and then headed to the Ryan educational center, where Nadia made a collage on the Salvador Dali theme. As always, we spent a really long time there and started to head out only when they were about to close.

We then walked to the Bean and then to the Chicago Cultural Center and stopped there to see a Tiffany Dome.

On Sunday, Nadia and I went to Joffrey Ballet to see “The Little Mermaid,” a ballet composed by Lera Auerbach. Everything about this piece is amazing: the music, the choreography, the instruments, the costumes, and most importantly, how the fairy tale is interpreted.

I read the synopsis to Nadia while we were waiting for the train, and while I was reading, I thought: well, this does not look like a ballet for kids. When I finished reading and said: so that’s a very sad story, Nadia asked: why is it sad? And then I thought that probably she is right because at the end, both the Poet and the Little Mermaid found new meaning in their lives.

I found a very interesting link where Lera Auerbach talks about the score and how she chose the instrument for the Mermaid’s voice.

Here are a couple of pictures I found. I do not think they convey how amazing this ballet is, but it is at least something!

This promotional video gives at least some impression of how it feels – imagine 2.5 hours of such intensity!

And imagine Nadia sitting through it, watching!