Small Children at the Ballet
General note to parents thinking of bringing children under 10 to a professional ballet performance: DON'T. Just...don't.
If your child is:
A) too short to see over the seat in front of him/her (nevermind the person in that seat), or
B) too young to fully appreciate and understand a story told without dialogue, singing, or cute little talking animals,
for god's sake LEAVE THEM HOME.
It's a complete waste of the parents' ticket money as well as mine when I miss half the ballet because your little brat is standing on the seat and bobbing back and forth to ask you a million questions. I promise, a ballet that's been performed internationally for over half a century isn't going anywhere and you will have a chance to take little Jimmy and Sally when they're old enough to sit still and appreciate the performance. Your five year old won't remember it in two years anyway.
I realize not that many parents of small children will read this, but damn that little kid in front of me tonight was annoying. Her mom finally got her to sit down and be still halfway through the first act once I complained and everything was fine, but then for act two dad switched seats with her and I couldn't see around his stupid melon head. Act three was the real treat, just when I'd got used to looking around dad, he decided to sit the little girl on his lap so I had not one but TWO heads blocking all of stage right. Not to mention all the moving around he did to put her jumper on and lean down and tell her who every character was every two seconds. I'm sure the person behind me suffered as well since it forced me to keep moving my own head around.
Just because the ABT is doing Cinderella doesn't mean it's for small children. The same applies for Sleeping Beauty or any other fairy tale, including Swan Lake in case people have seen the cartoon versions of that. Stay home and watch the DVD or take them to the cinema and watch Over the Hedge, leave the ballet for those who really appreciate it.
(Oh yeah...the show was pretty good. What bits of it I could see clearly.)