'Nutcracker' in St. Charles features aerial artists
A famous poem may talk of sugar plum dreams on the night before Christmas, but at this time of year, visions of sugar plums are forever dancing in the heads of cast and crew for any production of “The Nutcracker.”
And for dance company directors like Linda Cunningham, the entire Christmas season becomes “Nutcracker” season. It's that way every year for Cunningham, founder and artistic director at Geneva's State Street Dance Studio, but that's OK with her.
The iconic ballet is “magical,” Cunningham said. “It kicks off everyone's holiday spirit.”
It's been a good many years since Cunningham danced the Sugar Plum Fairy herself as a 12-year-old with the Zaki Labovsky School of Dance, and since then, “I've done a ton of ‘Nutcrackers,'” she said. “Too many to remember.”
Her focus right now is on this weekend, when State Street Dance Studio ushers in the holiday spirit with two performances of “The Nutcracker” at Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles. Shows are at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 19.
The first performance lands on the 118th anniversary of the day “The Nutcracker” was introduced to the world from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1892 score was an instant success and continues to enchant audiences today. But that's practically the only part of the show other than the storyline that hasn't been contemporized.
“This year we're doing silk artists,” Cunningham said.
In past productions, her silk dancers were on harnesses to create a flying effect. But this time her aerial ballet will be accomplished Cirque du Soleil-style on silk ribbons by two State Street faculty members. The teachers, Sarah Olson and Madeline Renwick, also are with NoMi LaMad Dance Company, Chicago, where Renwick is a founder and artistic director.
“We're taking it up a notch,” Cunningham said. “I have a theory: go big or go home. I don't like to bore the audience. I like to keep them fully engaged.”
She'll have other flying effects that still involve harnesses, plus snow and confetti, many new costumes and new choreography for Mother Ginger, the Chinese dancers, flower dancers and angels. The battle scene between the mice and the Nutcracker's soldiers also has been completely reworked.
On top of that, Cunningham said, “the sets are being tweaked and glittered, and our props manager is looking to embellish them. Every year the whole concept is to be bigger, better, bolder than the year before. If we don't grow, what's the point?”
She said it's important to make the production fresh each year for audience members who include “The Nutcracker” among their annual holiday traditions.
The large cast of 100 ranges in age from cute 5-year-olds dancing as mice to octogenarian Joe Greenberg in the part of the grandfather.
Most are State Street students and other amateurs who won their parts by audition, but some are professionals who thrill not only the audience but also some students who find themselves dancing with the stars.
Besides Olson and Renwick, professional dancers joining the cast include Philip Wackerfuss from New York; Brady Hinkle, Michael Darnell and Michael Gee from Chicago; and Steve Norman, who teaches at Northern Illinois University as well as State Street Dance Studio, and whose resume includes San Francisco and Houston ballet companies.
Annie Mushrush, 17, of St. Charles is a State Street student who will dance the grand pas de deux with Norman. Cunningham said Mushrush is the first student to have the honor of this dance.
Kate Sieber, a Geneva 14-year-old, earned the right to perform with Hinkle as the lead Russian dancers.
The show's main character of Clara is being performed for the second time by 14-year-old Sarah Atac of Batavia.
“I don't normally recast a Clara that has been one before, but she did such a wonderful job in audition that she just bedazzled me,” Cunningham said. “That's a real honor to be picked twice.”
The part of the Prince will be danced by Michael Fitzgerald, a West Chicago 13-year-old who recently won junior division semifinals of the Youth American Grand Prix ballet competition in Texas.
A quartet from the St. Charles Singers, an internationally recognized choir, will open the ballet with a preshow holiday singalong.
At the Sunday performance, fourth- and fifth-grade ballroom dance students also will do a little presentation “to show other children in the audience that ballroom is still alive and well,” Cunningham said.
Audience members at both shows will receive a certificate for a free dance class of any genre and a certificate from Zano Salons and Spa, Batavia.
“It's my pseudo-Oprah touch,” Cunningham said. “Everyone can pay it forward.”
Norris Cultural Arts Center is at 1040 Dunham Road, St. Charles. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for children 10 and younger. For ticket information, call (630) 584-7200, ext. 10.
Local 'The Nutcracker' productions
State Street Dance
When: 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18-19
Where: Norris Cultural Arts Center, 1040 Dunham Road, St. Charles
Cost: $25, $20 children 10 and younger
Details: (630) 584-7200, ext. 10; statestreetdancestudio.com
Berkshire Ballet
When: 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18-19
Where: Raue Center for the Arts, 26 N. Wiliams St., Crystal Lake
Cost: Tickets $19 to $25
Details: (815) 356-9212; rauecenter.org