Wooden toys coming to life. Fantastical lands filled with candy. Flowers twirling around the stage. All these scenes are characteristic of the classic holiday dance, “The Nutcracker,” which is Hockaday Dance’s fall performance this year.
The production, which will happen in early December, is a collaboration between Dance and the Orchestra. “The Nutcracker” consists of two acts, one which takes place in the real world and the other in a fantasy world, and it follows the main character Clara whose Nutcracker toy comes to life.
“‘The Nutcracker’ is a wonderful ballet that we grew up doing and seeing, and we want to give that experience to the greater Hockaday community,” Upper School Dance Teacher Alex Farrior said. “There’s so much to learn from the historical significance of this ballet.”
Senior Ava Ortega, playing Drosselmeyer, the creator of the Nutcracker in the dance, also enjoys the dance’s tradition.
“When it gets closer to the holidays, ‘The Nutcracker’ is one of the big images you see, especially in the ballet world,” Ortega said. “I’m so excited to bring it to Hockaday because I get to show the dance, which I love, to the people that I love as well.”
Hockaday Dance has been preparing for this performance since the start of school, beginning with a return to classical ballet technique.
“Last year, we did a modern concert, which was a really cool experience, but I’m excited to go back to ballet again,” Ortega said.
Farrior said the performance provides a fun experience for the community and dancers.
“I love seeing how the dancers embrace the characters, because Act One is set in the real world, and Act Two is in the magical land of sweets, so they have to adjust a lot,” Farrior said.
This production provides opportunities for all levels of experience.
“The framework of ‘The Nutcracker’ allows for many different groups of dancers to participate in one performance, and since we have different dance class periods, it’s often hard to coordinate and make a full-length ballet,” Farrior said. “This ballet lets all classes come together for a grand performance.”
Senior Claire Ying, playing Clara, a little girl whose toy comes to life and is transported to magical worlds, aims to make the most of one of her final performances.
“Even when all of us are stressed about school, or dance or rehearsals, we all stick together and push through because we know that we are doing this for each other,” Ying said. “Also, the seniors know that this is our last one and are looking forward to ending on a high note.”
Instead of dancing to a prerecorded track, the dancers will perform to live music, played by the Hockaday Orchestra from right below the stage.
“Live music makes dance a more elevated experience for both the dancers and the audience,” Farrior said. “Becaus e two sets of artists are creating and collaborating at the same time, no performance will ever be the same, because the music will never be the exact same, and the dance will shift with it.”
Middle School Dance Teacher Christie Sullivan also appreciates the way that live music makes each performance unique.
“The special kind of interaction between music and dance is like no other,” Sullivan said. “You can’t get the same kind of interaction when you’re just playing a track.”
Dancing to live music not only makes the experience more enjoyable for the audience, but also more exciting for the dancers themselves.
“We’ve never had this experience before, so it might be a little bit difficult to adjust to the timing,” Ying said. “However, I think it really makes the experience better because you can tell when the music is played live instead of from a recording, and it adds to how magical the show is.”
Ortega is also excited to perform with an orchestra and enjoys the collaborative nature of the upcoming performance.
“I think it will be amazing to connect between the two art disciplines,” Ortega said. “I was joking with my friends that it will be fun to dance and then look down at the pit and see them playing.”
The collaboration also brings the orchestra members an experience they’ve never had before.
“I think it’s an interesting experience to play in a pit, and it’s totally different from anything they’ve done before,” Director of Orchestral Music Charlsie Griffiths said. “It’s still a live performance, but nobody can see you. It has all the excitement of playing the music, and up on the stage, so many people are dancing, and it brings an amazing collaborative feeling.”
Junior orchestra member Tari Agbeyangi looks forward to this new experience, having never performed for a dance or in a pit before.
“Playing for the dance will be different because it’s not just playing for the sake of playing, and the dancers depend on us getting the timing right,” Agbeyangi said. “I’m excited to see how the fine arts work together, especially because dance usually uses prerecorded music, and now it’s live.”
“The Nutcracker” will also include a Middle School dance ensemble for the first time.
“We’re so excited to have them be a part of the show, first of all to give them the opportunity to perform, but also to have this multi-divisional production with so many elements of collaboration,” Sullivan said. “We’re hoping to see the older dancers help out the younger ones.”
The Middle School ensemble will play angels who welcome Clara and the Nutcracker to the Land of Sweets at the beginning of the second act.
“It all kind of fell into place because of the structure of ‘The Nutcracker,’” Sullivan said. “The timing works because they can rehearse separately because of their different schedules and then come together for the performance.”
Ying is also excited for the opportunity to perform with the Middle School ensemble.
“I think the ability to bring everyone together is such a cool part about ‘The Nutcracker’,” Ying said. “I remember, in a lot of dance studios I went to when I was younger, the younger kids always looked up to the older ones and pushed themselves and worked harder each year to become who their role models were. In this dance, we are their role models, because they can see themselves in us at this school as a part of Hockaday Dance.”
Note: Emilie Illum, Photo and Castoff Editor, also contributed to this story.
