Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Birthday and Ballet


Ballerina celebrated her 14th birthday on Sunday. What a glorious day!

The morning began with her favorite hot pink roses and presents. We then walked down to Dunkin Donuts for an extra healthy start. I'm pretty sure if you have to walk to the donut shop and back, it cancels out the calories.


Months ago, Ballerina asked to go to Chinatown for her birthday. I was happy to oblige. We stopped at Union Square Station first to make sure we knew exactly how to get to ABT from the subway on the all-important placement day. That accomplished, we rode on down to Canal Street and bargained our way through Chinatown. Ballerina scored on several items.


Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant where I was one of four non-Chinese in the room and one of six who didn't speak the language (Ballerina & Ballerina 2 included)! Ballerina was finally in the majority, a rare experience for her. The girls were a little surprised that we were expected to share a table with complete strangers, but they warmed up to the idea and happily ate their chicken fried rice (their own, not the strangers'!).


We shopped a little longer, then headed back to the apartment to get ready for the big surprise. Ballerina received tickets to New York City Ballet's benefit performance, Dancer's Choice.


The highlight of the evening for us was watching Katie Morgan dance the pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty. Her performance was breathtaking and her costume was exquisite. We've known Katie since she was in middle school and it was exciting to see her perform with NYCB. Katie knew it was Ballerina's birthday and gave her a signed pair of pointe shoes which will be treasured (for the non-ballet fans . . . that's the equivalent of getting an autographed baseball from a pro ball player).

Ballerina declared it the best birthday ever!

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