Last week, in the upstairs dance studio of Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA), young dancers scurried across the floor, their tiny feet pattering as they followed the lead of Vadne White, VCA Director of Dance, as she filled in for the role of the Rat Emperor during a rehearsal of “The Nutcracker.”
This scene demonstrated only one small moment in the joyous work and anticipation leading up to the first full-length, full-cast production of this holiday classic to grace VCA’s main stage since December 2019.
Ringing in the return of all the ballet’s beloved scenes and characters, “The Nutcracker” will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 1 and 2, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 and 4. All performances will be held in Kay White Hall.
The cast is not only filled with children and young dancers.
“We have a number of dance faculty members in our party scene this year,” said White, who extolled the value that faculty and returning adult cast members, such as Jonathan Kuzma as Drosselmeyer, and Sarah Alexander, as Granny, bring to the performance.
“These amazing actors and actresses bring that special ‘thing,’” White added. “It’s hard to choreograph ballet that’s funny, but they know how to act. I think comedy is a really important component for traditional ballets, like ‘The Nutcracker.’”
Meanwhile, the evidence of considerable sweat, blisters, and years of training can be seen in the toe tape, calluses, and focused determination of the dance department’s upper-level students.
This year, the technically demanding role of the Sugar Plum Fairy will be taken on, alternately, by Claire Mitchell and Signe Blomgren, while Ford Ray will return as the Nutcracker Prince. The iconic role of Clara will be shared by Grace Harvey and Elouise Lawrence.
Harvey, who along with Blomgren, previously dazzled audiences as Clara in last year’s small-cast production of “The Nutcracker,” said of the upcoming full-cast shows, “I love being able to dance as a full studio … we’ve spent so much time together, and I’m really excited to dance this ‘Nutcracker’ as a full show, with all of them.”
Tickets to the sure-to-be-memorable production can be purchased at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
