Sleeping Beauty

This past weekend Miguel and I drove up to Atlanta to go to the ballet with my in-laws. Going to the ballet is so much fun for me and it's one of the things I miss most about not living in Atlanta any more. Miguel's parents are so generous and used to buy season tickets and take us. So when his mom, Teresa, mentioned she was thinking about buying tickets to Sleeping Beauty, we jumped on the chance to go with!

Sea Food Tower

This time was unique because Miguel's brothers, Andy and Adrian, and their girlfriends, Leah and Kristyn, came with us. It was fun going in a big group and I enjoy spending time with the family. One of my favorite parts about going to the ballet with the Amadors is going out to dinner before hand. This weekend we went to Rays on the River. Yummy! Some of the highlights were the sea food tower appetizer, my delicious filet, and Miguel's two pound whole fish! The Restaurant was really, really busy. That's what you get for going to a nice restaurant on Valentines Day weekend. In fact, we were the only party that was larger than two people. It was fun to see so many people dressed up and in love. The romantic atmosphere helped set the mood for our night, and that was fun.

View looking out onto the Chatahoochee River

Rays on the River

I don't think this picture acurately shows the scale of Miguel's plate. It was more like a platter and the fish even still hung off the edge. I don't know how Miguel can eat appetizers, have cocktails, two glasses of wine and that whole fish! I wish I had a guy's stomach!

After dinner we headed over to the ballet. The Atlanta Ballet performs at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. It's beautiful! I love the Fox Theater, where the ballet used to perform, but the Cobb Energy Center is much more fitting and better suited for large audiences. It really is amazing. The Atlanta Ballet Orchestra also gets to perform with the ballet now which is an added bonus!

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

We hit some snags when we got to the ballet. Teresa had ordered eight tickets but at will call we only received six. Obviously that was a problem. After standing in the cold for a while they ended up providing us with two free tickets to fix their mistake. However, when we got to our seats we discovered that the two free tickets were not only not beside the rest of our seats they were two seats that weren't even together. My father-in-law was not okay with this, none of us were, but he fixed the problem immediately and ended up getting four seats together. Phew! Previously, we have been seated on the main level and always in the same seats, because of the season tickets. This performance we were seated in the first level mezzanine. It was actually really enjoyable. From the balcony you can't appreciate the costumes or performers' make-up as well as you could seated below, but you can appreciate the ballet as a whole a little bit better. It was also really fun for me to be able to look down into the orchestra pit!

Atlanta Ballet Orchestra Pit

The ballet itself was beautiful. I love watching dancers dance! It wasn't one of my favorite ever though. My favorites to date are Romeo and Juliet, Dracula, Don Quiote, and Atlanta Ballet's Vivaldi's Four Seasons Fusion performance. There wasn't much story to Sleeping Beauty and it felt like a lot of 'filler' dances. I'm not really sure how to describe it. I think that was one of the reasons I enjoyed being able to see into the orchestra pit so much. Whenever I got a little distracted I would watch the conductor or the musicians play and clean their instruments. I admire both dancers and musicians, they both posses skills I would love to excel at but I have no talent in what so ever.

Kristine Necessary and Jacob Bush as Princess Aurora and Prince Desiré

Kristine Necessary

This particular ballet was really special to members of the Atlanta Ballet and it's many patrons and fans. This was ballerina, Kristine Necessary, who danced the part of Princess Aurora, last performance. She is retiring at only age 28. Which isn't that uncommon in the dancing world I suppose though. At the end of the ballet, when all the performers come out for their final bow, and Kristine took her last bow, all the members of the orchestra threw roses on stage and people came out from the behind the stage like ants out of an ant hill to shower Kristine with roses and flowers. It was really touching. None of the other dancers took their bows, it was all focused on Kristine. The audience gave a standing ovation. It was a goose bump moment. I'm really happy I witnessed it.

Kristine Necessary during the final bow.
She could hardly hold all the flowers!

It was such a fun weekend! Miguel and I are so blessed to have such great, generous families. We cherish time spent with them even more now that we live in different cities. This month is especially fun for us because it is filled with visits to Atlanta to see family and family and friends coming to visit us!  Happiness!

The group minus the parents: Miguel, me, Kristyn, Adrian, Leah, and Andy