Well, hello 10:30am.  How are you this morning?

I’m at the studio; set up in a remote location while I write.  Different vibe here; I’m listening to the hustle and bustle of the studio comings and goings.  I’ve been here about an hour and the day started with me running to the front office to get one of the doors opened for a teacher.  Today they will be fitting Nutcracker costumes and I see many colors and fabrics going by me.

It’s just another day at a dance studio, I tell ya.

When you have a sport that occupies so much of your time, you can’t help but be friends with other parents.  So as I sit and write, I have already conversed with a handful of parents and heard their stories of the day.

I can hear the music playing in the ballet studio and I can peek through the window and see all the students doing what they are told.

My goal for the day is to get my pictures up on the wall.  I have taken a handful of pictures that I have enlarged and framed and I just added the hardware to get them up on the walls.  In the process of one of the pictures, I pushed just a little too hard and broke the glass.  I think I felt my heart-break along with it.  This has been such a labor of love that having this happen in the final step just about killed me.

I will be off to the glass shop for a replacement piece.  Ughhhhh

Also, as I sit here, I have decided to get candids of the fittings of the costumes.

It’s so easy to strive for the perfect picture, but as a photographer, I don’t care about perfection; I care about reality.

Most everyone has seen the Nutcracker, but most don’t realize the months of preparation and the many many volunteers who help to make it happen.

As this is Aspen’s first year in the Nutcracker, I am very interested in the process.  And if I can document it in whole; that would be awesome!!!

I’ve gone back and forth about this with my photos.  I know people like to see the perfect image hung, but I think that strive for perfection can cause the false idea that when we learn, we should be perfect; when in truth, perfection is something that we work towards and showcase after the many hours of discipline and practice and corrections.  No one cares about the road, they just care about the destination.

This is a huge issue in this country and I think if we focused more on the hardships then we could appreciate the beauty more once perfection is achieved.

I saw Cirque de Soleil many years ago for the first time.  I sat in complete AWE!!!  HOW do the performers do what they do??  Most of it defies logic and completely pushes people’s’ abilities to the nth degree.  I talked about it for weeks!!!

But after the third year seeing different versions of the shows, the amazement waned a bit.  And it became (for less of a better term) “ordinary”.  True; it is ordinary for them….but it became ordinary.

You forget the millions of hours it took for these people to be able to do what they do.

My goal this year is to focus on the process.  As I write there are 4 women standing around one cast member making decisions that will be best for the show and her particular character.  It’s a HUGE process.

I’m loving how I get to grow with the studio.  I’m in a new area and a new arena for me.  I only saw Nutcracker for the first time 2 years ago.  And I was hooked with the first show.

It will be interesting to see how the whole process unfolds.  And with any luck, I will be able to give the process justice in my documenting.  Because though the show will be lovely….kudos goes to the many who are behind the scene making it so.

Hats off to all the teachers and volunteers to make these things happen!!  You awe and amaze me.

Happy Saturday!