Nutcracker in August
I went to see this.
The bad: The Sugarplum Fairy was a very weak dancer, and she visibly fudged steps that were too hard for her and wobbled and couldn't keep her balance at all on the difficult arabesques. BOO.
The good:
BALANCHINE IS GOD. He really is. Everything he does is so, so great. And correct. And just perfect. The genius behind the steps shines through even with lackuster dancing, sometimes.
Also, the Oregon Ballet is much better than I expected, with the cheerily muscular American ballerinas leaping about on their powerful muscles. Our ballerinas are so so frail, so it was lovely to see the long-legged, big-muscled American ballerinas, and their cheerful clean athleticism.
My mother went with me and she hadn't really seen that much Balanchine before and said the ballets were very modern and fresh feeling, and were lovely. We both really loved how strong the male dancers were, so bouncy and athletic, with secure landings from very high leaps.
I have hopes that Korean ballerinos can match that over the next couple generations.