News

Three ways to get your 'Nutcracker' fix in the Fox Valley

Posted December 09, 2009 10:00 pm

By Cheryl A. Chojnacki Daily Herald Correspondent

Abby Ellison of Crystal Lake will reprise her role of the Dew Drop Fairy in this year's production of "The Nutcracker" at the Raue Center. Courtesy Berkshire Ballet

One of the most magical of all holiday traditions, it turns out, is only traditional at its core.

Christmas audiences have been wedging performances of "The Nutcracker" into packed holiday schedules for decades. But directors have always enjoyed making this classic ballet their own, changing the choreography or characters but remaining faithful to the basic storyline and the magnificent scores of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Dance companies add new touches even from year to year, and three in the Fox Valley this season are no exception.

Woodstock

For 25 years, Judith Svalander has been producing "The Nutcracker" in the kind of venue audiences flocked to when the Victorian ballet first came on the scene. Crystal Lake's Judith Svalander Dance Theatre is the resident dance company for Woodstock Opera House, which opened just two years before Tchaikovsky's original premiered in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Early versions featured a Christmas Fairy, said Svalander, founder and director of the company and its school, but most productions now omit this character. She said the fairy was designed to bring the spirit of Christmas into the home of the family gathered in Act I for a party.

"So we have her opening the whole ballet," Svalander said. "She opens the curtain and is presenting the family in a picture pose of 'The Nutcracker' and then brings them all to life."

With eight shows scheduled, this year's production gives 170 dancers the chance to perform in one of two alternating casts. Dance companies often hire professionals to fill leading roles in major shows, but Svalander said she doesn't need them this season.

"We've been very excited lately because we've been using our own dancers," she said. "They've grown to that level."

New for Woodstock audiences this year are a revised Russian dance and a new Chinese piece. Svalander also has another new scene, a group dance that introduces the Sugar Plum Fairy.

"We're bringing her in with crystalline princesses. It's a very cotton candy-looking scene," she said. "It's called the Land of the Spun Sugar Candy."

Svalander said she ramps up the production every season. "Because 'The Nutcracker' is a family tradition that's done every single year, it's nice to make changes," she said. "It perks up the audience."

St. Charles

Linda Cunningham, founder and artistic director at State Street Dance Studio in Geneva, is a big believer in annually splashing up the entertainment, too.

This will be State Street's sixth or seventh year at Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles, she said, but this time, "I have a surprise that the audience will not be expecting, that you don't see in every 'Nutcracker.'"

Intent on protecting the surprise, Cunningham will only say that it involves "flying effects. Several moments, not just one."

Music for State Street's two shows will be performed live by the 41-piece orchestra from Kane Community Opera of Geneva. Cunningham has engaged a professional singer, Jeannette Marquis of St. Charles, to entertain with holiday favorites before the ballet opens.

A group of Cunningham's younger students will dance a preshow ballroom piece, but the ballet itself puts more than 100 dancers on stage, including eight professionals. Most are coming in from Chicago, but State Street students also have taken lead roles, she said.

"Some of them are that pre-professional," she said. "You wouldn't know the difference.

"Our production is pretty professional, quite frankly. We're trying to bring Chicago out to the suburbs."

Cunningham said she wants the audience to be "magically entertained and feel a sense of the holidays. I love the magic. I love the music. I love the sparkle that ('The Nutcracker') brings to my own family life. It reminds me of the beauty of the season."

A free gift with each ticket purchase just might make that sparkle even brighter for audience members. Cunningham is giving each person one free dance class of their choice.

Crystal Lake

One of the great features of Berkshire Ballet Theatre's take on "The Nutcracker" is its special effects, said artistic director Jennifer Epley-Echols. The Crystal Lake dance company, affiliated with The Summers Academy of Dance, will perform for the third year at Crystal Lake's Raue Center for the Arts.

"We have falling snow, we have a beautiful angel scene where it looks like angels are dancing on clouds, and we have Glenn Chelius," Epley-Echols said.

Chelius, a magician and ventriloquist with the "Nothin' Up My Sleeve" show, will play Herr Drosselmayer for the first time, bringing his illusions into the performance.

"We've had some magic before in the show, but we've added even more with him," Epley-Echols said.

She added that a Chicago "violence choreographer" was hired this year to produce a more explosive fight scene between the Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King.

But the most stunning special effect, Epley-Echols said, is the Christmas tree that "grows" from 12 feet to nearly 20 feet tall during the transformation scene.

"Part of the story is that the stage becomes very large, and Clara dreams of these giant mice, and everything becomes large scale," she said.

"The special effects are really good," Epley-Echols said. "You can really imagine yourself being with Clara and experiencing what she experiences. That's our goal - to have the audience feel the excitement that Clara feels when she enters the Land of Sweets."

Five professionals from national and international venues will be joining Berkshire's two casts, bringing 100 dancers to the stage in three shows. Advanced students have been assigned some of the major roles, but the Grand Pas de Deux will be danced by a professional couple from Miami, Fla.

Decked out in white ruffles, Tess Joosse, 11, of Batavia, portrays Clara alongside other dancers in the 2007 production of State Street Dance's "The Nutcracker" at the Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles. Courtesy State Street Dance

Young Clara is danced by Brooke Carpenter of Crystal Lake in last year's "Nutcracker" at the Raue Center. Courtesy Berkshire Ballet

In Berkshire Ballet's 2008 production of "The Nutcracker," the Rat King, from left, is portrayed by Marielle Jacquez; Clara, by Alexa Barkocy; the Sugar Plum Fairy, by Fabiana Santiago; and the Nutcracker Prince by Colin Ellis. Courtesy Judith Svalander School of Ballet

Lauren Spoehr of Cary portrays The Fairy of Christmas in last year's production "The Nutcracker" in Woodstock. Courtesy Judith Svalander School of Ballet

Where to see "The Nutcracker" Woodstock Who: Judith Svalander Dance When: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 12 and 19; 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12; 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18; 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 Where: Woodstock Opera House, Woodstock Square How much? $22 adults, $16 students Call: (815) 338-5300 or visit <a href="http://woodstockoperahouse.com" target="new">woodstockoperahouse.com</a> St. Charles Who: State Street Dance When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19; 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 Where: Norris Cultural Arts Center, 1040 Dunham Road, St. Charles How much? $25 adults; $20 children 12 and younger Call: (630) 584-7200, ext. 10, or visit <a href="http://norrisculturalarts.com" target="new">norrisculturalarts.com</a> Crystal Lake Who: Berkshire Ballet When: 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19; 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 Where: Raue Center for the Arts, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake How much? $19-$25 Call: (815) 356-9212 or visit <a href="http://rauecenter.org" target="new">rauecenter.org</a>

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