BC Fusion girls
win NEWSS tourny this weekend –
U17s rock!

I have a few different blog posts I’m working on, but for now I just wanted to share some photos of my cat, Clara.

She’s sitting here, curled up on my lap as I type this. Some of my friends poke fun at me because I talk about Clara a lot and post pictures of her on Facebook pretty regularly.

I sometimes joke that I’m the epitome of a single girl — one who cuddles with her cat, talks to her and walks through the grocery store on Saturday nights and buys baking ingredients and cat food. (OK, so I don’t buy cat food on Saturday nights, but I do cuddle and talk with my cat!)

Anyhow, Clara has become such good company for me. I used to have a lot of trouble coming home to an empty apartment, but now that I have a cat, loneliness isn’t as big of a problem. She’s like my little shadow, following me wherever I go and acting as my sidekick.

Most of my good friends also have cats, so we sometimes have kitty play dates and share amusing stories about our furry friends. Clara takes a while to get used to new cats. She usually seems intimidated by other animals, but she loves people. When my friends visit, Clara sits in the middle of the living room floor and soaks up the attention. Like I said, she is good company. And if you haven’t noticed, she’s pretty photogenic, too!

Gascaliante e ClaraTmj trabalhando por uma revista melhor!Agora eu vou fazer só as capas das revistas e algumas matérias, e ele vai fazer o resto. quer dizer, as outras matérias e a contra-capa.

A contra capa eu fiz agora mesmo, com um desenho q eu scaneei a uns 3 meses nem sei pq…

Artemisia, Antonia, Aurelia, Arabella, Clara, Clementine, Cleopatra, Crescentia, Dulcinea, Ernestine, Ebelina, Eloisa, Fenella, Fernanda, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hazel, Hortencia, Imogen, Idahlia, Ishbel, Lucinda, Louella, Leagora, Linnea, Margaret, Maddalena, Maple, Madelie, Nataline, Ophelie, Octavia, Orlantha/Orlanda, Polly, Romilly, Rosalie, Tallulah, Valentina, Violet.

Abraham, Cato, Ezekiel, Emmett, Evander, Edward, Hugo, Ira, Jay, Lazarus, Lysander, Leander, Ned, Orlando, Perrin, Rupert, Russell, Sullivan, Thomas, Theodore, Willoughby.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Christmas has started – Justus, Lina and Clara are assembling a Gingerbread House!

Christmas has officially started Justus, Lina and Clara have assembled a Gingerbread House today:

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Ingredientes:

• 1 copo de leite
• 100 g de mel
• 2 claras
• 1 copo de creme de leite

Modo de Preparar:

• Misture bem o mel e o leite.
• Bata o creme de leite e as claras numa batedeira ou liquidificador.
• Acrescente a mistura de leite e mel, batendo na velocidade mínima.
• Leve ao congelador ou freezer.
• Para o sorvete ficar com consistência cremosa, depois de trinta minutos e leve de volta ao congelador.
• Está pronto o sorvete de mel.
• A decoração vai depender de sua criatividade.

Fonte: http://www.receitinhas.com.br

Ingredientes:

1ª PARTE:

• 1 lata de leite condensado
• 1 lata de leite de vaca
• 3 gemas

2ª PARTE:

• 2 latas de leite de vaca
• 6 colheres de açúcar
• 6 a 10 colheres de Nescau
• 1 colher de maizena

3ª PARTE:

• 3 claras em neve
• 3 colheres de açúcar
• 1 lata de creme de leite sem soro

Modo de Preparar:

1ª PARTE:

• Misturar todos os ingredientes e cozinhar até dar ponto.
• Colocar em um pirex e levar ao congelador.

2ª PARTE:

• Levar ao fogo até dar ponto.
• Colocar em cima da 1ª camada já gelada.

3ª PARTE:

• Bater as claras em neve, misturar com o açúcar e creme de leite.
• Colocar em cima da 2ª camada já gelada.

Fonte: http://www.receitinhas.com.br

Round 61 begins! Not a great start to the day for Ruby. Clara keeps asking for Meme and when she’s going to see Meme. I think she misses her Meme days. Not sure what to tell her, she’s 2. I’m going to try and get Clara out more and David can stay home with Ruby. I feel bad for her and miss Meme too!

Naptime here. I hope the rest of the day goes well.

While trying to convince me to share some bread dough~
“Dough sleep good in my tummy!”

While getting a poop changed~
“I shared with my friends!”
“What are you sharing? Your poop?”
“Yes! On their hands!!”

“I see the moon!  Its flying!!”

O senador José Agripino (RN) cobrou do governo federal o começo imediato da duplicação do Contorno de Mossoró. A obra já tem projeto aprovado, passou por uma licitação, conseguiu a licença ambiental, tem empresa contratada, entretanto, não sai do papel. “A ordem de serviço foi dada há três meses e até agora nada”, afirmou o senador. “Não sou líder de oposição ao país, mas aos erros do governo. Quando o governo erra, ou se compromete e não cumpre, minha obrigação é cobrar, denunciar, ficar em cima do assunto”, completou.

O parlamentar também denunciou uma tentativa da União de entregar um empreendimento muito menor do que exige a população potiguar. É o caso da refinaria Clara Camarão, obra que está nas previsões da Petrobras há 15 anos e só conseguirá processar 35 mil barris de petróleo por dia, enquanto o Estado produz 85 mil barris. “Qualquer investimento que se faça em nosso estado é bem vindo. Agora, que não nos vendam gato por lebre. A Clara Camarão não processará nem metade do petróleo que o RN retira”, protestou. A refinaria de Abreu e Lima, que está sendo construída em Pernambuco, por exemplo, será capaz de 500 mil barris todos os dias.

Cliquem pra ver maior (eu acho…) não testei ainda

Eines ist vollkommen sicher, CLARA ist die frechste Wellie-Dame, die ich jemals kennengelernt habe – auch wenn sie zzt. wie ein gerupftes Huhn aussieht. Nur kein Mitleid, sie ist mit allen Wassern Australiens gewaschen

Ich dachte ja, ich wäre dem Stuckleisten-Schreddern nach dem Umzug ins andere Zimmer entkommen – weit gefehlt, jetzt beginnt nämlich das Rauhfaser-Schreddern.

Allen voran natürlich Clara und gleich dahinter Nanni. Vor lauter Verzweiflung habe ich so einen großen Staubwedel oben auf die Jalousie gelegt. Was passiert? Clara hat natürlich gleich neugierig an den langen Fasern rumgeknabbert um festzustellen, dass sie nicht schmecken. Aber am anderen Ende des Staubwedels ist ja nur ein schmaler Griff und der ermöglicht natürlich den Zugang zur Patete Bei soviel Aktivität hat der Staubwedel der Erdanziehungskraft nachgegeben und ist mit einem lauten PLUMPS runtergefallen. Große Aufregung in und out der Voliere. Alle Wellies plötzlich ganz schlank und mit langen Hälsen.

Meine Lösung: BILD am SONNTAG So hat die gute alte Yellowpress doch ihre Daseinsberechtigung *lol*. Ich habe also Zeitung gerollt, mit Tesa zugeklebt und auf die Jalousie gelegt.

Tja, meine lieben Federbälle, reingelegt und Schluss mit der Rauhfaser-Schredderei. Hier nun noch einige neue Fotos, von Clara, wie sie ganz ladylike auf der Vogelleiter sitzt und

von Mr. Blue mit seinem Spatzi, die beiden sind ein Liebespaar geworden. Mr. Blue hat auch schon versucht Spatzi zu besteigen *gg*, hat zwar nicht ganz geklappt, aber Spatzi hat gönnerhaft stillgehalten.

Und noch ein Foto von Emmi, der grauen Eminenz. Bei der letzten Duschaktion vor einigen Tagen ist sie extra mal aus der Voliere  raus gekommen um sich so richtig in Positur zu setzen. Sie ist nach wie vor die einzige Dame, die das Duschen so richtig genießt.

Last but not least Fotos von dem neuen Vogelbaum – er wird inzwischen gern angenommen. Nach längeren Überlegungen – packe ich ihn in einen Eimer mit Zement oder mit Sand – habe ich mich entschlossen, ihn einfach auf den Boden zu setzen und kleinere seitliche Zweige so am / im Volierengitter zu positionieren, dass er zwar nicht umfallen, aber doch zur Reinigung einfach entfernt werden kann.

Ach ja, ein Foto habe ich noch vergessen, schreib jetzt aber nicht alles wieder um von wegen last but not least – SPATZI. Wie konnte ich ihn nur vergessen. Nicht dass ihr jetzt glaubt, er hat eine Haube gekriegt, nein, hinter ihm sitzt sein Spezi, Mr. Blue. Deshalb sieht der Kopf ein wenig dicker aus, als er ist. Und dieses Foto ist nur für Halle Budgies, der größte Fan von Spatzi ……nach mir natürlich *grins*

Nun ist endgültig Schluß für heute, schließlich muß ich noch in die Großstadt zum Italiener, Essen mit meinen Mädels Allen, wenigen, die hier lesen einen schönen Abend!

Mein Lieblings-Song (momentan) von meinem Lieblingssänger (schon länger momentan)

Today you are 38 months old.  That sounds like such a long time, but really it is just past 3 years.  And even though i can remember life before you were here, it feels like you have always been here.  that probably doesn’t make much sense to you, but one day you will understand.

this past month has been so full of excitement, adventure, even some pain.

just a few days after i posted your 37 month update, on October 29th, you dislocated your elbow at pre-school.  when i picked you up from school i noticed that you weren’t even trying to use your right arm.  AT ALL.  You are right-handed, but when we arrived home and you started eating dinner you tried to use your left hand to eat.  when you became frustrated with that you even asked me to help feed you (asking for help or taking offered help is not something you do regularly as of late).  i tried to examine your arm but you couldn’t really explain where it hurt except that your “arm hurt” and you wouldn’t move it at all from shoulder to fingertips.  i tried and tried to convince you to try to move it just so i would know whether or not you could move it, but you refused.  you were scaring me because you would just start softly sobbing at times and you looked sorta like you were in shock.  very scary for a mommy.  i quickly decided that you needed to be seen by a doctor.  i suspected “nurse maid’s elbow” (elbow dislocation) because that is the most common arm injury at your age, but when you or ike get hurt the nurse in me gets a little unsure of herself.  so we got an appointment with the after hours clinic at your doctor’s office and we were there in mere minutes.  despite your dislocated arm, you fought like a champ against any attempts the doc made at examining you.  he decided nurse-maid’s elbow was the culprit and i had to hold you still while he performed the reduction manuever that put it back in place.  you still kept that arm completely still and protected until the next day while we were getting x-rays to confirm that the joint was indeed back in place.  during the xrays, while you were fighting me and the technician, you started using your arm fully.  i let you spend the rest of the day with me at work.  it was an unusual day at work because it was the day before Halloween so we were having our annual halloween carnival for the day care below my office.  you had a blast and now you beg to come with me to work almost every day.

waiting for the xray results--finally feeling better

on saturday we celebrated halloween.  you dressed as a “halloween princess.”  when you saw this costume on another little girl who came to the halloween carnival at my work, you leaned toward me and whispered while staring at her: “mom, i wanna be that halloween princess for my costume.”

the "halloween princess"

enjoying the fruits of their labor

So, Halloween was a blast.  You talked about it for weeks afterward.

You also never stopped talking about the doctor.  After your whole arm incident, you became a little obsessive about doctors.  You would ask all the time if we were going to the doctor.  you would quickly announce, “my arm doesn’t hurt, i don’t need to go to the doctor.”  and you started taking your babies to the “doctor” a lot.  including asking for the “tempature” (thermometer) so you could see if they were sick.  after a few weeks of this i decided to get you a doctor kit so you could have a little more fun and hopefully not be afraid of doctors forever   i found an adorable baby alive that sorta looks like you and she was a “make me better” baby doll that came with a stethoscope, thermometer, medicine spoon, bulb syringe, and bandaids.  you immediately loved her and started taking care of her and calling her “doctor baby clara” which you still refer to her as that even today.  you have taken her temperature hundreds of times and decided that she needs medicine and then a bandaid sticker.  i taught you how to use the stethoscope to “listen” to her heart and lungs, explaining to you that you can hear her heart beating with the stethoscope.  the day after you got her, you came home after school and started playing with her.  you picked up the stethoscope and placed it on her chest and told me, “mom, we have to call doctor baby clara’s heart.”

Oh, how i love you my darling girl!

This week we at preschool were talking turkey and Thanksgiving.  They are both concepts that two-year-olds can’t really conceive of.  What’s special about having dinner with some family?  We’re going to eat a bird?  Gobble Gobble.  What does it mean to be thankful?  What are you thankful for?  Candy!  Despite that, I persevered.  We made, looked at, and read about turkeys.  We had fun, but did I make any headway?  Not really.

Apple Turkey

Sponge Painting Turkey

Well, even if Clara and her buddies don’t get it, I do. I’m grateful for more than candy. I have a wonderful family, want for nothing, and the freedom to do just about anything I please. I don’t think it gets much better than that. And I am very thankful for that.

Uma vez (ontem) eu tinha feito uma peça sobre união mundial (e era um musical!) e as minhas 2 colegas eram japinhas. Tudo ok, na volta pra casa eu toco num assunto de ser chamada de “otakinha mirim” e minha irmã fala: “o que é um otaku?”. O que é um otaku?
Pelo o que eu sei, é um termo usado no Japão para designar um fã por um determinado assunto, qualquer que seja. No imaginário japonês, a maioria dos otakus são indivíduos que se atiram de forma exagerada a um hobby qualquer (ir no pc, ver tv, jogar video game, qualquer que seja.) No ocidente (América, partes da europa e África…) a palavra é utilizada como uma gíria para rotular fãs de animes e mangás (TMJ!!!!) em geral, em uma clara mudança de sentido em relação ao idioma de origem do termo. Muitos membros da comunidade acham o termo ofensivo por não concordarem com a distorção de sentido do mesmo e se recusam a ser chamados assim. O termo é normalmente utilizado apenas dentro da comunidade de fãs de animês e mangás e de falantes do idioma japonês, sendo portanto desconhecido para o grande público. Eu vou logo falando, sou mirim pq só já vi 2 animes e meio (Pokemón, Histórias de fantasmas e um episódio de Naruto) e sei falar o básico de Japonês. Oi, xau, flor, vermelho, céu, pessoa… e por aí vai. Mas ao pé da letra, geral que lê esse blog é otaku! Por tmj e outros.
Não neguem q eu sei!!!

Is this ballet for you?

Go if: you want to treat your kids, godchildren, nieces and nephews or even perhaps the kid in you.

Skip if: Bah humbug!

Dream Cast

Sugar Plum Fairy: any ballerina who can do proper gargouillades

Alina Cojocaru as The Sugar Plum Fairy. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Background

The Nutcracker is a major example of a balletic twist of fate. The very thing critics and audiences objected to at the time of its premiere 117 years ago – its appeal to children – is what turned it into such a bankable classic. From your local end of the year ballet school presentation to the most lavish productions for the big companies and every kind of thing in-between (even Nutcracker on Ice), Christmas season has now become saturated with Nutcrackers everywhere.

Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the same Imperial Theatre Director who had brought together Tchaikovsky and Petipa for his ambitious project The Sleeping Beauty had imagined a new ballet to be based on the book L’Histoire d’un Casse Noisette by Alexandre Dumas père. This was a story he knew from his time in Paris as a diplomat and which Dumas himself had adapted from Ernst Theodor Amadeus (E.T.A.) Hoffmann’s Nussknacker und Mausekönig (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King) from 1816.

Vsevolozhsky managed to secure Tchaikovsky and Petipa’s collaboration again but Tchaikovsky only agreed to write for The Nutcracker on the basis that he would also be able to work on his opera Iolanta. Because Petipa had fallen ill he ended up working mostly with the choreographer’s assistant Lev Ivanov. Although Tchaikovsky’s music was appreciated (but again thought too symphonic for a ballet) the production was criticized, mainly for the lack of logic relationship between its two acts. The Nutcracker received only 14 performances initially. Some critics thought there was not enough complexity in the story and “no subject whatever”. To critics and audiences alike, the Nutcracker was a luxurious piece but one that was “made for children”.

The Nutcracker in the West

Although it was not considered much of a hit in Russia The Nutcracker kept being performed throughout the theatre year (at that time it was not yet heavily associated with the Christmas season). In the West, however, it boomed. First seen in scattered pieces, with the Arabian dance transplanted into the Ballets Russes’s Sleeping Princess and with Anna Pavlova’s take on The Waltz of the Snowflakes, London audiences soon got the first full version.

Most versions have some links back to the original but by the time they were staged much of the choreography had been lost and/or changed. This meant that Ivanov’s original Waltz of the Snowflakes had to be reconstructed from notations (presumably incomplete) made in St. Petersburg before WWI.  Likewise, Ivanov’s Grand Pas De Deux in which Prince Coqueluche (Koklush) spread out a veil gently gliding the Sugar Plum Fairy as if she were on ice (or icing sugar) has been revised or scrapped in most versions although Balanchine’s Nutcracker still pays homage to it.

Elizabeth Harrod as Clara and Alastair Marriott as Drosselmeyer, in The Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Johan Persson/ ROH ©

Perhaps the biggest downside to so many different Nutcracker versions over the years has been the progressive watering down of E.T.A Hoffmann’s original story and its aura of mystery, rooted in the German Romantic movement. Hoffmann’s tales often include fantastic elements coexisting with folklore (another example being Coppélia) which are sometimes ignored in favour of the ballet’s child friendly aspects. However, some versions of the ballet seek to preserve the Romantic layers and its mystery, notably Nureyev’s version for the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) as well as Sir Peter Wright’s for The Royal Ballet and for Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Versions

The first complete Nutcracker was staged in London by the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1934, based on choreographic notation by Nicholas Sergeyev. Ten years later saw the first US version by San Francisco Ballet (1944) and another ten years brought George Balanchine’s blockbusting version for NYCB (1954), now staged every year by several US ballet companies. By the 1980s, 300 separate productions were touring the US.

Sir Peter Wright’s versions

Sir Peter’s 1984 version of The Nutcracker for The Royal Ballet, still performed by the Company, stays close to Hoffmann’s original tale. It emphasises Drosselmeyer’s mission to find a young girl – Clara – who can break the curse imposed by the Mouse King on his nephew Hans Peter and thus restore him to human form. References to Nuremberg and German Christmas traditions are present in the settings, with a kingdom of marzipan featured in Act 2. Equally successful is his 1990 version for The  Birmingham Royal Ballet, this one closer to the Russian tradition of having Clara double up as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but with a slight twist: it is Clara’s alter ego ballerina doll who turns into the Fairy.

Jamie Bond as The Prince in Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Bill Cooper / BRB ©

The Odd Ones

Nureyev’s production for POB has a clear emphasis on symbology and the subconscious: Clara wanders down the stairs at midnight to find her family and friends turned into rats and bats while Drosselmeyer transforms into a handsome prince.

Mikhail Baryshnikov’s 1976 popular version for ABT turns the Christmas dream into a coming-of-age tale. There is no Sugar Plum Fairy nor Prince Koklush, the focus being Clara’s encounter with the Nutcracker Prince as orchestrated by her Godfather Drosselmeyer. As the ballet ends so does Clara’s fantasy.

More recently the ballet has seen a flurry of ironic takes. In Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut (1991) the Stahlbaums are a suburban family with a fake Christmas tree, bad hairdos and too much to drink, the second act Arabian divertissement being a trio for oil sheiks. In Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! (1992) Clara lives in an orphanage run by Mr. and Mrs. Dross and tries to win the heart of the hunky Nutcracker prince.

Story

These myriad versions make it impossible for us to list all the differences and twists in the various Nutcrackers around the world but the storyline is more or less always the same:

Characters

• Herr Drosselmeyer
• Clara (or Marie, or Masha)
• Nutcracker Prince (or Hans Peter)
• Sugar Plum Fairy
• Her Prince Cavalier (Prince Koklush)

Act 1

A Christmas party is taking place at the Stahlbaums’, parents to Clara and Fritz. Drosselmeyer brings his goddaughter Clara a gift of a nutcracker doll.  Children being children, Fritz eventually grabs and breaks the Nutcracker doll much to Clara’s dismay. Drosselmeyer fixes it restoring peace amongst the youngsters. Guests depart and Clara suddently sees herself surrounded by a fantasy world, where the Christmas tree grows giant and dolls and soldiers come to life to battle with the mice who have also grown to Clara’s own size. She sees her Nutcracker doll leading the battle and being attacked by the Mouse King. She throws her slipper at the Mouse, liberating the Nutcracker who turns into a Prince. They embark on a magical journey, their first stop being the Land of Snow where snow flakes waltz around them in patterns, as if blown by the wind.

Act 2

Clara and her Nutcraker Prince arrive at the Kingdom of Sweets where they are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince Cavalier. They are invited to watch a series of divertissements representing exotic travels and various different sweets: Chocolate (Spanish dance) Coffee (Arabian dance) Tea (Chinese dance), the Russian Trépak (Cossacks), Mother Ginger & the polichinelles (in certain versions), along with the dance of the little pipes/Mirlitons and the Waltz of the Flowers. The celebrations close with the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince dancing a grand pas de deux. The curtain usually falls on Clara waking up back at home wondering whether it was all just a dream.

Roberta Marquez and Valeri Hristov in The Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH ©

Music

Tchaikovsky died in 1893 not knowing what a big success his work would achieve. He had been burned twice before writing for ballet (with Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty) so he was less than enthusiastic to do so again but Vsevolozhsky convinced him on the basis that he would also be able to write the opera Iolanta which interested him more and which premiered on the same day as the ballet. Paradoxically, his Nutcracker score became, over the years, the more celebrated of the two works.

Having received the joint commission, Tchaikovsky started on The Nutcracker writing to his brother Anatoly in March 1891 that “the main thing is to get rid of the ballet; as to the opera I am so fascinated by it that if I could have two weeks of peace I would be sure to finish it on schedule”. As he embarked on a trip to Berlin and Paris en route to an American tour that same year he heard of the death of his sister Sasha.  Perhaps for this reason a hint of sadness  and nostalgia permeates The Nutcracker’s haunting score.

He finished composing the ballet on 6 July 1891 having added to it a novelty instrument which he had bought during his tour in Paris, the celesta, which he used to give The Sugar Plum Fairy her characteristic sound of heavenly bells.

An essential Nutcracker Spotify/Ipod playlist should include the below tracks:

Op.71 – Overture
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 1 The Christmas Tree
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 2 March
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 6 Clara and the Nutcracker
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 7 The Nutcracker Battles the Army of the Mouse King
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 8 In the Christmas Tree
Op.71 – Act 1 – No. 9 Scene and Waltz of the Snowflakes
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 10 The Magic Castle on the Mountain of Sweets
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12a Character Dances: Chocolate (Spanish Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12b Character Dances: Coffee (Arabian Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12c Character Dances: Tea (Chinese Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12d Character Dances: Trépak (Russian Dance)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12e Character Dances: Dance of the Reed Pipes
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 12f Character Dances: Polchinelle
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 13 Waltz of the Flowers
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14a Pas de deux: Intrada
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14b Pas de deux: Variation I (Tarantella)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14c Pas de deux: Variation II (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 14d Pas de deux: Coda
Op.71 – Act 2 – No. 15 Final Waltz and Apotheosis

Mini-Biography

Original Choreography: Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Original Designs: M.I. Botcharov with K. Ivanov wit costumes by I.A. Vsevolozhsky
Original Cast: Antoinetta dell’Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerd as Prince “Koklush” (also known as Prince Coqueluche or Orgeat), Nikolay Legat as The Nutcraker Prince and Timofei Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.
Premiere: 6 December 1892 Mariinsky (also credited as 17 December 1892)

Where to see it in the UK

The Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker is in repertoire at the Royal Opera House from November 26 to January 1st. For booking details visit the ROH website.

Birmingham Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker is in repertoire at the Birmingham Hippodrome from November 27 to December 13. For booking details visit The Birmingham Hippodrome’s website.

English National Ballet – The Nutcracker, with choreography by Christopher Hampson, is in repertoire at the London Coliseum from December 16 to January 3. For booking details visit the ENO website.

Sources and Further Information

1. Royal Opera House Nutcracker podcast
2. The Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker Programme Notes.
3. The Nutcracker History by Gerald Charles. Ballet Met Notes for The Nutcracker, November 1998 [link]
4. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker/Swan Lake/The Sleeping Beauty Highlights. Naxos Recording with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. [link]
5. The Refined Product of a Great Artist: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta by Hugo Shirley. Opera Holland Park. [link]
6. Nuts, Sluts, Rats and Bats by Judith Mackrell. The Guardian, December 2001. [link]
7. How to Design the Nutcracker by Ismene Brown. The Arts Desk [link]
8. Breaking Pointe: The Nutcracker is a Gift that Takes More than it Gives by Sarah Kaufman. The Washington Post [link]
9. Wikipedia entry on The Nutcracker [link]

Lembram do robert? Num é que ele começou a mudar as fts que o valmir fez, aquela inédita do blog dele?
vejam: http://informacoestmetmj.blogspot.com/2009/11/nova-imagem-da-tmj.html
Ele eu acho que pensa que nós somos um bando de idiota… vejam o blog dele!A montagem falsa sobre twitter é a q eu mais gosto der zuar!

Gente, a montagem tá horrorosa, mas dá pro gasto e dá pra fzer umas montagens legais!!! e dêem os créditos ok?

She rested her arm on the table and turned her gaze back towards Wolff. Her brows furrowed. “He seems… different. Quieter, somehow.”

I nodded. “We were attacked on the way back to Vidheim,” I said, my voice low. “We all escaped and the beasts that attacked us were forced to retreat, but… we lost some good people and Captain Wolff lost one of his tails.”

With a small gasp, Iona turned back to me. “Do you know which one it was?” she asked.

“Joran?” I said. I frowned and added, “Clara said… he was mischievous and something of a flirt?”

Iona nodded. “Joran was an outgoing one,” she said.

**

Comment, so I know you exist…

Clara and I, after an afternoon with no nap, needed an activity.  So, we made pumpkin bread.  With chocolate.  I’m not sure there are many things better.  But then we added sprinkles to the top.  Yummy!!  An hour later, we were both feeling much better.  We made one loaf of bread and a dozen muffins from this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Also good with raisins for the kiddos instead of chocolate chips.  Can be made into mini loaves and/or mini muffins or regular muffins, too.  Just adjust the baking time.
Ingredients
1 1/2  cups  sugar
2  cups  canned pumpkin
1/2  cup  canola oil
1/2  cup  fat-free vanilla yogurt
4  large egg whites
2  cups  all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
1 1/4  teaspoons  salt
1  teaspoon  baking soda
1  cup  semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  We actually made this in the standing mixer because its a lot easier to add ingredients and juggle a toddler if you aren’t hand mixing.  Or you can help the toddler eat pumpkin out of the can.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

I chewed my lip as we moved through the forest. My gaze was not on the path in front of me; rather it was on the treetops. I didn’t want to be caught off guard if any of the spiders decided to attack us.

A startled cry brought my attention downward. “Rowan,” Clara gasped, as I spun in my saddle.

One of the mygales had, as I’d feared, launched an attack. It had leapt down on Rowan, knocking him from his saddle. Another spider was already binding his ostrich in thick webbing. Rowan struggled against the spider that was attempting to do the same to him.

I summoned my staff, as the others did the same. The crystal at the end of Loki’s staff flared as he summoned light into it. He swept his arm outward and a blade of light cut through the spider that was attacking Rowan.

“Look out,” Muller shouted. I heard a muffled cry and then the sound of a body hitting the ground. When I turned, I found a third spider had attacked Loki, while a fourth made a meal of his ostrich.