Thursday, December 5, 2013
Staff report
Youngstown
After rehearsing for months, nearly 80 Ballet Western Reserve students from age 6 to adult will present “The Nutcracker” this weekend at Powers Auditorium.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.
The annual BWR production, a full-length presentation of the Tchaikovsky ballet, is choreographed by Virginia Hartman, artistic director at the school.
The recently restored sets and backdrops from BWR’s 1970 production of “The Nutcracker” will again provide the setting.
“The students are really working year-round for our biggest production of the year,” said Hartman. “The Angels can’t wait to be mice; the party children want to be flowers; and every year the dancers work harder to be cast in the role of their dreams.”
Hartman’s vision of “The Nutcracker” includes a number of collaborations with area artists.
James McClellan returns as the mysterious and magical Herr Drosselmeyer, and Easy Street Productions’ Todd Hancock will lend his voice as Narrator again this year.
Maeli Foley, a senior company dancer, will dance the Grande Pas De Deux with guest artist Jens Lee as “The Cavalier.” Kristin Dobson, of Fred Astaire Dance Studio, will reprise her role as “Spanish Hot Chocolate” — a part that is always a highlight of the performance. Anchoring the production are BWR’s company dancers, which include five graduating seniors.
Thanks to grants from the Walter E. and Caroline H. Watson Foundation and the Ruth H. Beecher Charitable Trust, BWR is able to offer 500 tickets for the Youngstown City Schools performance of “The Nutcracker.”
This special 60-minute educational and interactive production was created especially for children. As part of BWR’s mission to provide excellence in dance education, a downloadable Teacher’s Packet is available at balletwesternreserve.org. It contains coloring pages, puzzles, the story of the “The Nutcracker” and general information about the art of ballet.
Tickets are available by calling the DeYor box office at 330-744-0264 or online at youngstownsymphony.com.