My Mishka мышка

I might have to change Ruthie's moniker. I might have to start calling her Mishka мышка. Why? Because Mishka мышка is the Russian word for Mouse. Today Ruth, um, I mean Mishka мышка auditioned to be a mouse in the Berks Ballet Theater production of the Nutcracker.

Pretty much anyone who showed up for the audition made it. I didn't realize this, but the BBT's production is pretty much put on by its students. There will only be a few 'professional' adult dancers in the company that will play some of the principals, such as the sugar plum fairy. Everyone else is under twenty, it seems. It was fascinating to watch the teens auditioning for parts in the other room while Mishka мышка was busy scurrying around like a mouse. They will perform at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center, which is a rather large stage and theater. That will be exciting.

I'm uncertain how this will all pan out for her. She was a little out of sorts over the audition. She despises large crowds of people. Today it was suffocatingly claustrophobic. About fifty little Mishki мышки showed up to audition. At the end of the half hour, my little Mishka мышка looked very distressed and tired. I asked her if she really wanted to do this. She was very insistent. I informed her that there would be lots of sitting and waiting and lots of people and sometimes chaos. "Are you sure?" I repeated my question. Mishka мышка nodded her head in the affirmative. She wants to be on stage.

Many parents were veterans, either having their little mouse perform in years past, or having had an older former mouse who had now graduated to "angel." Either way, I was getting the low down. The rehearsal schedule seems to fit in our lives, Saturdays 10-10:45 until after Thanksgiving, then it will be 3-5 pm on Sundays...not too bad. I will have to sew a mouse "hat" for the costume. I can totally understand why the BBT doesn't provide 50 little mouse hoods for costumes. That would get overwhelming. Next week I will get the pattern. We will have a fund raiser of poinsettias or Wilbur buds. (Anyone want to buy a poinsettia?) So, why not add some more insanity to our already busy life.

Really it came down to this. There is one thing that Mishka мышка has been rather persistent about: dancing. She has bugged and pestered and begged for classes for as long as I can remember. And when presented with the opportunity to be part of a major dance production, she was the driving factor for us getting her to this audition today. She didn't forget the date or the time ONCE. Being the middle child, sometimes she gets lost. She ends up following in her older brother's footsteps and does the same activities he's been excelling at for years: soccer, swimming, etc. Or she gets side stepped because of her "cute, sometimes funny, and sometimes very annoying" little sister, Hannah. This is her moment, not the Joshua's, not Hannah's. Even though she'll be surrounded by fifty other little mice, she will be the "star" for the night. That alone, will make it worth it. I hope.

[ed. to anon... to transliterate the Russian ы into english is difficult since there is no exact sound. The reason I (mr. mel) chose the english letter "i" is because the short "i" as in the word "is" is closer to the ы sound than any other.]