Learning From the Best in The Nutcracker | Kid Reporters’ Notebook


Dancers Trinity Mijares and Liam Boobar (middle) rehearse for The Nutcracker.

Final weekend, 45 younger dancers carried out in an American Ballet Theatre (ABT) manufacturing of The Nutcracker. Since 2015, New York Metropolis’s ABT has staged the basic Christmas ballet on the Segerstrom Middle for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. 

The ABT William J. Gillespie College was based in Southern California in 2015. Since then, younger dancers from the college have been invited to audition for a task within the ABT’s annual vacation performances on the Segerstrom.

Whereas most native productions characteristic a forged composed completely of kids, the ABT’s Nutcracker presents a chance for college kids to carry out with an expert ballet firm. “It’s such an honor to carry out with one of many greatest ballet firms on this planet,” mentioned Trinity Mijares, 15, considered one of two dancers forged within the function of Younger Clara.   

The Nutcracker tells the story of Clara, a woman who receives a nutcracker doll as a Christmas present. She has a dream that the nutcracker comes alive as a prince. Younger Clara travels with the Younger Prince on an enchanted journey, encountering dancing snowflakes, flowers, troopers, mice, and sugar plums. 

 

Ballet college students in Southern California rehearse a battle scene from The Nutcracker

DANCERS WHO LOVE WHAT THEY DO

Within the matinee efficiency on December 10, Younger Clara, performed by Trinity, remodeled into Princess Clara, a task carried out by a principal dancer on the ABT, Isabella Boylston. The Younger Prince, carried out by Liam Boobar, 11, turned the Nutcracker Prince, carried out by James Whiteside, additionally a principal dancer for the ABT.

“When younger dancers are capable of see the older model of their function, they’re capable of see how far they’ll go of their careers,” mentioned Sarah Jones, interim director of the Gillespie College and kids’s ballet mistress for The Nutcracker. 

In preparation for his or her 12 dwell performances, the younger dancers rehearse lengthy hours for a number of weeks. In response to Liam, “the scholars work very arduous, come ready with ballet footwear, actually concentrate, and write down notes so that you’re on timing.”

The hassle is value it, Liam added. “You’re surrounded by so many proficient individuals who love doing what they do,” he mentioned. “The ABT is sort of a household.” 

Performances of The Nutcracker will proceed on the Segerstrom by means of December 18. 

 

 

 

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