What the Nutcracker Has Meant for Our Family
About four years ago, our son, Carter, saw a Centralia Ballet Academy performance for the first time. There were over 30 boys of all ages on the stage of the Washington Center for the Olympia Dance Festival, and the performance was as raucous and joyous as one might hope from such a large group of energetic boys. After the show, Carter asked me if he could dance with them. We had tried a few sports and other activities, and nothing had stuck yet. Hesitant to jump into yet another activity, we didn’t act on his request right away. But Carter persisted. He kept saying, “I want to dance with those boys.” So, we signed him up. He has been dancing with Centralia Ballet Academy ever since and loves it.
Like many kids around the country, our kids have been learning remotely since March of this year. It’s hard on everyone: the teachers, the parents, and the kids. While being at home together has brought us closer as a family, it’s isolating. For Carter it has meant that he’s missing out on all of the normal fourth grade social time – moments at the bus stop, in the classroom, at recess, at lunch, and in after school activities. He sees friends over Zoom and a handful of socially distanced park dates, but it’s not the same.
Dancing with Centralia Ballet Academy and performing in The Nutcracker has brought a sense of normalcy to what otherwise feels like an upside-down year, to put it mildly. Dancing brings Carter joy, and there’s true camaraderie among the boys and girls in the classes and Nutcracker production. Centralia Ballet is inclusive, welcoming, and generous and the students are racially, ethnically, and economically diverse. The dance world they have created is kind and compassionate. And despite the challenges of teaching classes and producing The Nutcracker during a pandemic, they persevered for the sake of the dancers who needed a port in the horrific storm that 2020 has been.
Thank you, Mick and Nancy, for bring such beauty and happiness into our life, and for your dedication to all of the dancers.
~ Joy (Carter’s mom)