Before Dec 31, 2012, act to make 2013 different!

What was most meaningful this holiday season in gifting was totally unplanned.   We went up to our home in the mountains where our widowed neighbor helps keep an eye on our place and helps us hire help to take care of the yard as needed.  This Christmas, his children and grandchildren were in another country for a wedding and he was alone.  We invited him to come and share in our meals for the few days up to Christmas day, but, due to his Parkinson's disease, he doesn't feel comfortable eating socially with us.  He prefers to eat alone.  So, our family shared all our lunches and dinners with him by packing an entire hot meal into a thermal cooker (like a thermos pot) and handed it over the fence .. and he hands it back all clean. Simple and much appreciated, we enjoyed sharing all our festive meals.   I also introduced him to our favorite Trader Joes' prepared and fresh foods.  TJ has the best (non-nitrite) ham ever :)  Our children took turns handing over thermal cooker over the fence back and forth.  It is the best gifting experience ever for our family.  

As part of our desire to simplify life and to declutter, we also de-emphasized multiple material gifts this year.  Instead of physical gifts from one another, we asked each other about giving our personal time/talents and enjoying the personal experience of sharing something of themselves with others.  Not just for one day or a week, but on the everyday basis.  For example, hearing my son relearn and play Beethoven's Fur Elise in its more complex entirety and to keep in his piano repertoire (after going through his current practice of Brahms' Intermezzo) is my daily joy and his labor of love!  He knows it is my perennial favorite and it warms my heart to hear it.  Without words, I know he is saying what FarmBoy's "as you wish" meant in the movie "Princess Bride"!  My oldest said he would go with his younger brother and teach him how to fix his bike's tires at Venice beach.  My daughter and I share a love of ballet and its technicalities and we spend many precious hours alone together en route to her ballet classes several times a week.  As we have done annually for years since I led a cub scout pack, I organize an annual "musical community service" at our local assisted living residence. With everyone playing their current piece or favorite twice on the piano, cello, or violin, they perform twice  - once for the ambulatory residents at the dining room and again at the Alzheimer's residents' dining room upstairs.  It has always been a heartwarming and fun experience ... and, this year, I hope to invite a young tenor to come and sing too.  

Although it is way past Christmas, and, regardless of your religious leanings, please enjoy these 4 minutes or so of an introduction of Simple Gifts encapsulating the idea that "a person gives nothing who does not give of himself. Perhaps it is the simplest gift of all and the most difficult." 

After the intro below, here's the link to all six heartwarming stories of memories of Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNPnWSA6Clo&playnext=1&list=PL06BE8EB6599F00A6

This link has the introduction featuring Maurice Sendak's animation drawings for the Simple Gifts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2tbVaDqHXA&feature=youtu.be 

Simple Gifts: Introduction

www.youtube.com

R.O. Blechman presents "Simple Gifts" (1977) Introduction by Maurice Sendak with opening remarks from Colleen Dewhurst. (Part 1 of 7)

While there are still a few days left before December 31, 2012, please consider making a difference for your family and community by trying this free 21-day online course from my favorite science-backed happiness site by Christine Carter.  This "crack the habit" course and other free resources are at:  

http://www.christinecarter.com/free-resources/

Cracking the Habit Code — Free Online Class

21 Days to Keeping Your Resolutions

Dec. 31st to Jan. 21st
21 day online course
$0 (FREE!)

Want to make REAL change in 2013? Do you make the same resolutions year in and year out — but they never seem to stick? Here’s something that neuroscientists know about keeping resolutions: It can be effortless once you know how the human brain trains itself to make changes.

This site has made a real difference to many families.  She writes:

"Parents who teach and practice “happiness habits” (foundational skills for resilience and emotional intelligence) raise happier kids AND are happier themselves. Happiness habits also dramatically increase the odds that children will succeed socially, academically–even athletically!"  Indeed, happiness is not something to be found - it is a practice of being :)

Before December 31, 2012, for those families who want more Math challenge (from middle school and up ... it will challenge any parent too), consider registering for a free module of the Elements of Math course in a self-contained online course at:

http://www.elementsofmathematics.com/

LIMITED TIME OFFER: The first EMFcourse covering modular arithmetic and operational systems is FREE for students enrolling before January 1^st, 2013. Register Now!

If this online course proves to be too challenging, consider joining --- at any time --- this weekly virtual math club where you can see solutions visually as well and it is an excellent way to challenge your child beyond what they do in school at: 

http://virtualmathclub.wordpress.com   (no worries, no deadline!)

Here's what they are working on now:

This week’s problem set is #60:  Problem Set #60.  Have you every wondered why there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour?  I think it’s amazing that our modern system of measuring time goes all the way back to the base-60 number system developed by the Sumerians at the dawn of civilization.  You can read more in this Scientific American article.

On a non-Mathy subject, it appears little known to many Los Angelenos that you can visit Bowers Museum in Santa Ana (and their Kidseum) absolutely free once a month on the first Sunday of the month, courtesy of Target.  We have seen all their wonderful travelling exhibits from China and Egypt free in this way.   Here's the link for a list of 2013 Free Sundays which highlights a specific culturally-focused family festival:

http://www.bowers.org/index.php/learn/target_free_first_sunday

The Bowers Museum also has an excellent permanent Chinese history and artifacts exhibit as well as an early California history exhibit.  Teachers and students will find its study guide invaluable in providing an essential historical background to any 4th grader's family's appreciation of the California Missions:   http://www.bowers.org/files/EarlyCAGuide.pdf

Come January 6th, enjoy this closing exhibit and all the exhibits at Bowers Museum free.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 10:00 AM HOLLYWOOD FILM AND FASHION FAMILY FESTIVAL TARGET FREE FIRST SUNDAY & FAMILY FESTI.VAL

Well, this has been a long blogpost to see 2012 out!

Enjoy the days till we welcome the new year in.  Happy Holidays!

Appreciating Variations in the Nutcracker Ballet

December is the season of Nutcracker ballets!

Have you ever wondered why the Nutcracker doll turns into the prince in the first place?

London's Royal Ballet's production (a video of which you can see online) starts with a summary explanation before each act on the youtube version that helps contextualize the Nutcracker story as it is usually performed in a ballet, as opposed to the original book story by E.T.A. Hoffman:

Drosselmeyer, a magician and maker of mechanical dolls, once invented a mousetrap that killed off half the mice that once lived in a royal palace.  In revenge, the Queen of the Mice transformed Drossolmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter, into an ugly Nutcracker doll.  Only by killing the Mouse King and being loved by a young girl can he be released from the spell.  Drosselmeyer, invited by the Stahlbaums to their party, takes the Nutcracker as a present for their daughter, Clara.  Clara falls in love with her new doll.  After the party, Clara creeps downstairs to see her Nutcracker, but Drosselmeyer is waiting for her.  He transforms the room into a battlefield and the toy soldiers, led by the Nutcracker, fights with the mice.  With Clara's help, the Mouse King is killed by the Nutcracker who is turned back into Hans-Peter.  Drosselmeyer sends them both on a journey through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets.

In Act Two, Clara and Hans-Peter meets the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince.  Hans-Peter tells of his adventure and how Clara saved his life.  They joined in the fabulous entertainment organized in their honour by Drosselmeyer.  In this version, as in most professional productions, Clara and Hans-Peter dances throughout the performance.

Read more about the history of the Nutcracker (including a video history) here: http://reflectionsinverse.blogspot.com/2010/11/from-story-to-ballet-interesting.html

For more technical info on the thematic structure of  Nutcracker and more about music by Tchaikovsky, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker.

For an appreciation of Tchaikovsky's music for ballets, see an informative book review at: http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Tchaikovsky-s-ballets-6648

For those who study music theory, you might be interested in the section on ballet dance music at this link: http://www.siennasguidetomusic.com/Topics/dance.html

Having watched at least one Nutcracker performance every year, and comparing three Nutcracker productions this year, I have observed significant differences in how different companies and ballet schools present the Nutcracker and how they frame the story.  Often, especially in a ballet school's production with many students from little cute 4- or 5-year olds to teenaged dancers, the Nutcracker is their main production of the year.  Two different dancers with different dance abilities often "play" the young Clara in the party scene and the "dream Clara" (usually an accomplished guest artist) in Act 2 and it can be confusing if the two dancers look so very different from one another!  Sometimes, Clara dances the grand pas de deux with the Prince (as in the Mikhail Barysnikov's version in the link below) and sometimes the Prince dances that with the Sugar Plum Fairy as in the Royal Ballet's version.  Some elements are crucial to the story and some are not.  We started by googling different versions of the Arabian dance and were fascinated by how different they each were.

You can see full length Nutcracker ballet productions online (usually almost 2 hours) so you can fully appreciate the differences in the staging of the Nutcracker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUsFzvDDF0 (Royal Ballet performance which was released on video in 2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6R9KFCzurg (1 hour 41 minutes long, 1994 production in Mariinski Theater)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RcMV091Ifk  (Mpkhail Barysnikov with the National Ballet of Canada)

Locally, in California and in Greater Los Angeles region, there are many versions of Nutcracker you can choose from.  We plan to check out different companies each year.  The Long Beach Ballet version has a live orchestra accompaniment (http://www.longbeachnutcracker.com/About.htm)!.  The Los Angeles Ballet version has a distinctly California backdrop, so always be prepared to appreciate innovative productions as well as traditional versions.

To appreciate the diversity and variations in the Nutcracker ballet, I encourage you to see a different Nutcracker performance each year :).  These two links take you to many local choices of Nutcracker performances:

http://www.nutcrackerballet.net/html/california.html

http://www.redtri.com/los-angeles-kids/where-to-see-the-nutcracker-in-los-angeles

I haven't seen the marionette version or Debbie Allen's theatrical treatment in the Hot Chocolate Nutcracker at: http://www.thehotchocolatenutcracker.com/about/

Girl Scouts and their families can get great orchestra seats at $15 for full length productions at Inland Empire Ballet.  IE Ballet also has the best outreach and ballet-introduction lectures at their slightly abbreviated outreach performances where the art of mime as well as the specifics of body-language storytelling in ballet are demonstrated both for Nutcracker as well as the Little Mermaid and Cinderella.  More at:

http://www.ipballet.org/outreachPerformances.php

Inland Empire Ballet also have excellent study guides for each of their outreach performances at: http://www.ipballet.org/teacherResources.php and this link is for the Nutcracker study guide: http://www.ipballet.org/pdf/NutcrackerStudyGuide.pdf

Don't forget to also check out the different book versions of the original Nutcracker story.





Given Maurice Sendak's work on ballet stage sets and costumes for Pacific Northwest Ballet, this book about the original Nutcracker tale by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 is worth checking out for Sendak's beautiful illustrations.  But, as always, please pre-read before sharing with much younger kids.

Enjoy the Nutcracker performances!