Dancing Mother Ginger

This past weekend was Lily’s ballet recital.  It is based on the Nutcracker, although some musical theatre numbers were interspersed. Lily and I had the chance to dance together in the Mother Ginger scene.".

This is my costume without the hooping. There were five girls (aged  5 or 6) who were the polichinelles under my skirt.  Unfortunately, I do not have a photo I can post with the hooping in place.  I also carried an oversized cardboard mirror and a huge powder puff.

The costume was designed and sewn by talented  Daniela, inspired by Art Stone’s version.  Art Stone has some of the best Nutcracker costumes.   If you enjoy theatrical costumes, it is a wonderful source of inspiration.

My makeup was so over the top, so I made this photo sepia.

 

Not every production of the Nutcracker includes Mother Ginger.  When a production does include it, the role is sometimes played by a local celebrity, sometimes even a man such a linebacker (not sure why I was chosen?, hmmm).  Both my daughters know the story of the Nutcracker and the music by memory.  Mother Ginger is Lily’s favourite scene (followed by the Waltz of the Fairies and the Chinese Tea Dancers).  If a version doesn’t include Mother Ginger, Lily usually disapproves. 

The girls were excellent and I was so proud of them.  Mother Ginger gave each of them a wooden Nutcracker ornament after the show.  I found the wooden cutouts on Etsy.

I also made Lily a Nutcracker place setting for breakfast.  I recently had some sheet music laminated, so it makes a nice place mat.  I covered a Christmas cracker in sheet music as well.  {The sheet music is actually Bach, sorry Tchaikovsky}. The plates and napkins were on sale at a ridiculous discount.

It was a wonderful performance that my daughter and I are not going to forget.