I don’t think of myself as very brave. Actually, I’m constantly trying to talk myself through things, warding off the anxiety and panic attacks I wrestled so hard with through 2019-2022. So it may not seem like such a big deal to take a day trip to Birmingham; but to me – it was big. It all started with what I considered a crazy idea thanks to an ad.

Early January, while scrolling Instagram, I spotted a stunning ad for a new ballet coming to the Birmingham Hippodrome, Cinderella. It was a mesmerizing ad, so I saved it to show my oldest daughter – a hopeful ballerina. But I kept thinking about it before I showed her. I soon found myself googling how far Birmingham was and how much the tickets would be. And a crazy idea came into my head. What if she and I went to Birmingham for the day and saw the ballet during her half-term break?

*Birmingham’s Grand Central has a crazy façade.*

Fast forward, we did it! My idea got a bit more crazy, or actually less crazy to me, when I asked a friend and her dancer 20-something daughter to come with us. And we decided to take the train so we wouldn’t have to drive it all and could enjoy our time together. Brilliant ideas all around. We had a blast of a day.

*Joanna was thrilled to see a real boba place again and I was fascinated by all the boba and jelly colors on the counter.*

We arrived to Birmingham several hours before the ballet so we enjoyed walking to the Bullring where there are lots of shops and nice bathrooms. It was a very cloudy, drizzly morning.

*St. Martin in the Bullring was covered by this lovely green algae (I think). I’m sure it is terrible for the building, but it sure made it glow even in the grey day and quite fascinating to look at.*

I nearly bought some large bowls of fruit in the street market. So cheap and looked pretty good, but I didn’t really want to walk around all day with a bowl of fruit, and I wasn’t sure where it came from.

*We had an early lunch at Wagamama across from St. Martin in the Bullring.*

We arrived at the Birmingham Hippodrome a half hour before the show. Just in time for some coffee and settling into our seats. The theatre is lovely. All the seats are slightly staggered, so even though we were up high, we could see really well. The matinee was full with little kids and elderly. Quite the combination for a nearly 3 hour show with two intermissions!

*The curtain at the start of the show. The image changed at each intermission.*

We really loved Cinderella. Such a beautiful depiction. This was choreographed by David Bintley and the costuming and sets were really stunning. I found the story to be super fun, but must admit that some of the group dance scenes felt long and excessive. And the little kid behind me kicking my chair, definitely seemed to think those were the boring bits as well.

No photography allowed during the performance, but I’m super grateful the program we bought had one picture of my favorite characters in the show. There was a frog, 2 lizards, and 2 little mice. They were fantastic – costuming and dancing. When they appeared on the scene, the whole mood of the theatre shifted. Every kid clearly sat up and giggled. And I was included. Favorite characters for sure.

*Photo from the program for Cinderella. (We saw a different lead play Cinderella than this one.) But I adore the animal dancers.*

My other favorite characters of the show were the two stepsisters. They were hilarious and definitely stole the show. Especially this food-obsessed one. She was hysterical in all her dances. And I feel like dancing purposefully wrong must be so incredibly hard. I was reflecting on the train ride home that it is interesting how the supporting characters are so much more interesting than the leads.

*Another photo from the program. The food-obsessed stepsister being distracted by passing cupcakes.*

When we emerged from the ballet, the sky had cleared and was bright and blue. Surprised us all. We had an hour to wait until the next train home, so we walked back towards the Bullring, enjoyed some cool street art, and wandered a couple of shops.

*Flower wall on a restaurant near China town in Birmingham*

*We all loved this street art bird. The wall was flat, and the bird painted in a way that looks like it is emerging from an alley. The bird is taller than a person too.*

*The giant bull statue in Grand Central in Birmingham.*

It was such a fun day trip and I’m so glad we did it. Joanna has been poring over the program for days. It’s fun to take a quick trip into a city for some adventure, but I’m also glad to get back home. 💚

Birmingham & ballet

walking & books