My daughter is going with her grandmother to The Nutcracker on Saturday night at the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square. For my daughter, moving to Cleveland will be a huge advantage over Okinawa (Prefecture Government, Tourist Bureau, Wikipedia ) in that she will have vastly more opportunity to see professional performances.

The Nutcracker is being performed by the Cincinnatti Ballet, December 7th(last night) through December 11th. When we first arrived we were a tadbit disappointed that there was no "Cleveland Ballet" anymore, but with the series put on by the Playhouse, we still get amazing access to performances that just were not available in Okinawa. Although, in Okinawa there was one performance by a Russian Ballet company that was visiting Japan.

Elly, whom is at least considering becoming a professional ballet dancer, is taking classes at the Cleveland School of Dance. Yesterday we were informed that the students of the Cleveland School of Dance were invited to a special "Masters" class, where the "master" (whatever that is) of the Cincinnatti Ballet will spend an hour-and-a-half teaching. The class is held in that ballet place you can see from the street next to the Allen Theatre.

Apparently, everytime a Ballet company comes into town for a performance, the students of the Cleveland School of Dance get an opportunity to learn from the master of that company. The ability to experience that is truly a nice thing about being in Cleveland.