For me, one of the biggest parts of the Christmas season is the Nutcracker ballet. I’ve only been in it 6 years, but I can’t imagine a Christmas without it. The crazy rehearsal schedule combined with school and ballet classes would scare off any normal person, but the ballet dancer is not your normal breed of human.
Rehearsals start the beginning of October or late September and are held on weekends. Depending on your parts, you may rehearse both Saturday and Sunday. This year I was lucky and only had rehearsals on Sunday. At first you rehearse by your part. Then, about half way through November, the rehearsals combine into the different scenes and they rehearsed both days. My schedule had me at the dance studio pretty much from 1:30 to 10 o’clock Saturday and Sunday with just a few 30 minute breaks and possibly an hour break. The week before the performances is the craziest time of all. Typically a Company dancer is at TPAC from 4:30 to 11 o’clock Tuesday through Thursday. Friday morning is the benefit performance for the area 4th graders and Friday night is the real deal.
An hour before every performance the Company and Junior Company dancers have a corrections class in the basement of TPAC. Barbara Ebert, the artistic director as well as the main dance instructor at Barbara’s Conservatory of Dance, takes notes during the last performance (or dress rehearsal) and tells us what we did wrong or could improve on, because yes, even after over 2 months of rehearsals, we still make mistakes. She doesn’t like to compliment us because supposedly it makes us too confident and we mess up. After the corrections class, we do a little warm up and go to the dressing rooms to get ready.
This year I was a Friend (one of Clara’s friends) in the Party Scene with my very best friend since 2nd grade. I was really lucky and was put on the same side of the stage as her, so we got to dance together for part of it. We also did some ‘acting’ which was really just reacting to the gifts Drosselmeyer brought to the party. I was also an icicle in the Snow Scene and a Sugarplum Fairy Attendant in Act II Entrance.
I love dancing on the stage. I’ve never really had stage fright, so I don’t have any tricks for getting over it. When I was younger, I would get butterflies in my stomach on the car ride to TPAC, but as soon as I got there, I was fine. Now, all I feel is excitement when I’m about to go on stage.
Some of the people from my mom’s bible study group came to watch me. They’ve only ever seen the quiet side of me. One of the women told me that she was shocking by how outgoing my dancing was and that she felt like I was really at a party and excited about being there by watching my acting. I’ve never really thought of my dancing as being ‘outgoing’, but I suppose it is a good way to describe it. I’m not shy about my dancing. Something about putting those shoes on gives me a confidence I’ve never felt in acting class. Talking in front of people makes me really nervous.
Preparing for the Nutcracker is very different from preparing for performances in acting. I’ve been dancing for about 6 years of my life (which is by no means a long time for a senior). I’m used to dancing in front of hundreds of people. I am not used to speaking in front of people. It’s harder for me to memorize the lines and it’s much easier for my brain to freeze up and forget what I’m doing. If I forget a line in a monologue, nobody is going to know, except for the fact that when I forget a line, my brain goes completely blank and I can’t think of anything. If I forget a dance move in a solo, all I have to do is throw in some random moves until I remember what I’m supposed to be doing. My mind might be blank, but my body automatically fills in. If I’m doing a corps. part, I just have to look at everyone else to see what they’re doing.
