Holiday music soothes airport stress
Twin 4-year-old girls plopped down on the floor.
A security guard paused from his duties
A woman, who held her service on her lap in a wheelchair, stopped to see what was happening.
In the middle of a normally bustling airport — one of the busiest in the country — the ballet dancers pirouetted to the music of “The Nutcracker.” They danced for the midday crowd of more than 100 people at the Orlando International airport.
These December performances, which include a jazz band to an Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra quartet to choir singers, have become a holiday tradition since the new terminal opened in 1981, said spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell who called it a reminder for passengers to “pause” during the stress of holiday traveling.
Even on an ordinary day, an airport is a place of raw emotion.
The fear and adrenaline pumping in your heart when you sprint for a flight, towing your suitcase as fast as you can behind you. The ache of saying goodbye to your loved ones when you don’t know when you’ll see them next. The anxiety of leaving home to go somewhere unknown.
Maybe all those emotions are compounded during the holidays when travelers also face the sheer masses. About 3 million people are expected to fly in and out of OIA during the endof-year travel season, a projected all-time record. An estimated 155,000 passengers could filter in and out of the terminal on a single day.
“Passengers are stressed which makes you stressed in return,” said airport employee Tia Walters, only four months on the job.
She wandered momentarily from her post to watch the dancers. She had never seen ballet before. So was this the Nutcracker? She snapped a photograph, smiling big. “It’s so beautiful,” she said. A father set down a toddler, who had been on the verge of a tantrum. The little boy began dancing, wiggling his legs.
A teenage boy pulled out his iPhone to film it.
A woman watched dreamily from a bench.
A pilot stroding in a rush to the security line gave a hard glance and then continued on his way.
An airport worker stopped pushing Sue Wagner’s wheelchair outside the crowd on her way to catch a flight bound for Providence.
It was stressful traveling with a service dog for the first time while she fought cancer. But right now, under a tall Christmas tree, the Sugar Plum fairies leapt on their toes and danced.
“It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas,” Wagner said to the airport worker.