Watch Out for the Skunk

Madison's latest ballet was Hansel & Gretel. She worked very hard to learn her parts and as the veteran among her peers, was the de facto leader of her group. In Act I, as Hansel and Gretel are picking berries in the forest, they are ambushed by some woodland animals: a squirrel, a fawn, a bunny, a frog, a skunk and a porcupine. Madison is the skunk.

Act II finds Hansel and Gretel at the Witch's gingerbread house. Madison and her girls are gumdrop candies from the cottage. They do a fairly lengthy dance before the Witch decides she's had enough of their antics. Madison is the red gumdrop.

These videos were taken with our little Canon pocket camera, so they're a bit shaky.

We also finally got our DVD of the Enchanted Toy Shop, albeit six months after the fact, and I'll try to post a couple of clips of Madison from that.

Madison on TV - Part Three - Full Video

YouTube evidently doesn't allow clips longer than 10 minutes in length, so I had to break this up into two parts, both in-line below. 
This is a compilation of ten separate clips that aired over the course about an hour and a half beginning at 5:15 AM on Friday, December 9th on Portland's KGW channel 8. I'd not heard of Drew Carney before, but he was very professional and a lot of fun. Every part was aired live (no retakes). 
There is a great close-up of Madison at about the 00:07:30 mark where she is singled out as the youngest member of the company, so that would be from about 00:01:30 to 00:01:40 in the second video.

40 Movies in Two Minutes

I haven't abandoned this blog. It's these busy weeks I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Tomorrow begins the marathon six 4 and 5 hour rehearsals and performances in the next eight days for Madison and her Enchanted Toy Shop ballet. Hopefully we don't have an ice storm this weekend, which would really foul things up for the production.

I suppose if I had a ton of readers I could get sued for posting the following picture. But it is a low-resolution version and will be in your program anyway, which I am in charge of making. I'm including an ad for the photographer, so hopefully she'll chalk it up as free advertising. After all, it's not everyone who gets a mention on the Ducheznee blog (that's right, I just linked to myself).

Professional photos of the entire cast were done by Pam Morlan Photography. 

And here is the photo...

For details of the upcoming performances of The Enchanted Toy Shop produced by Abernethy Performing Arts, please refer to "The Exhausting Toy Shop".

Meanwhile, for your viewing enjoyment, here is a very well-done short video of snippets of inspiring speeches from 40 or so popular films, including perhaps the greatest film of all time, The Last Starfighter. You'll also find the Muppets, Charlie Brown, Morgan Freeman, Hoosiers, and inexplicably, The Neverending Story, Angels in the Outfield and Free Willy. Although their parent films may not be, this compilation is rated PG. No foul language - just a very "brief" clip of Will Ferrell without a shirt on, which nobody should have to see. 

The Exhausting Toy Shop

WOW! We just received Madison's final rehearsal schedule for her rapidly approaching performances of The Enchanted Toy Shop.

Our only prior experience with "ballet" was at the community school. It wasn't even called ballet, but "Creative Movement". Madison's classes at the community school culminated with a "performance" where each of the different classes would appear briefly on stage and dance a little jig. Camera bulbs flashed. Camcorders whirred. Parents smiled proudly, approvingly, for having witnessed the fruits of six frustrating 30 minute episodes of trying to find parking at the community school.

Sara learned of a new ballet school that is located much more conveniently for us and with better class scheduling. The cost difference was negligible. In addition to her actual instructional classes, Madison also wanted to participate in the school's Winter production, The Enchanted Toy Shop. She landed a role as a Curly-Haired Baby Doll.

This meant she had one additional one-hour session per week outside of her normal classes. This additional session was to learn her specific routines, not just ballet technique and skills. None of this has been much of an issue up to this point - until today.

In the two weeks remaining until her performance, Madison must be at an additional four, four and five-hour full dress rehearsals at both the ballet school and the performance hall. She also must arrive a full two and a half hours early for each of her three performances. I expect I'll be able to catch up on my back issues of Wired and Portfolio. 

We were obviously not expecting all of this. The community school required virtually no commitment whatsoever. This new school, however, is life altering - at least for the next couple of weeks. This is the real deal - just a small step beneath the Moscow Ballet Company, I'd wager. Madison is easily the youngest and least experienced ballerina in the production. There are several career dancers and hard-core recreational dancers. There are full costumes, hair and make-up. It wouldn't surprise me if there were a live orchestra in the pit, although I'm pretty sure all of the music is prerecorded.

I'm not saying that having known what lay ahead we would not have enrolled Madison in her new ballet school; but I certainly wasn't prepared for this level of involvement.

I'm not even exactly sure when we'll be able to get the Christmas decorations or get our tree. Saturdays are full. 

If you would like to support Madison, her school, and her fellow ballerinas, here are the details:

Abernethy Performing Arts Productions

presents

The Enchanted Toy Shop

A Holiday Ballet for All Ages

December 19th, 7:00PM

December 20th, 1:00PM and 7:00PM

Jackson Auditorium

Old Oregon City High School

1306 12th St., Oregon City, Oregon

Tickets, call 503.974.9235

$12.00 Adults, $10.00 Seniors

$10 Children 12 and younger

or

Click here to purchase tickets online