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| Energy is high with ‘Nutcracker’ ballet this month |
By: Julie Zallek
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Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:19 am
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“The Nutcracker” weekend by the Mankato Ballet Company (MBC) at Bjorling Hall is almost here (December 20 and December 21), and the cast and crew are working intensively to pull the production together. The energy level is high, and it often spills out when those involved speak of the ballet.
Katherine Smith, once of MBC, was asked to be a Guest Dancer, and she was happy to accept. She’d studied ballet thirteen or fourteen years and had taken off the last year to teach.
Katherine noted a significant change in the choreography. She speaks highly about the amount of time the artistic director, Eryn Michlitsch, spends with students, teaching them how the music and their steps go together.
Katherine enthusiastically says that “this is the year everybody has been the most excited! Just seeing everyone liking what they’re doing and enjoying being together has meant a lot.”
Charles Kotulski, who plays the Prince and the Nutcracker, felt honored when asked to be a Guest Dancer. He, too, once belonged to MBC. He was also asked to choreograph Grand Pas De Deux with Katherine.
Charles sees a big change in the young dancers this year. To him, they’ve been pushed to a higher level, and they’ve responded well. The young dancers’ passion seems lost on no one.
Besides the SPHS Chamber Singers, the audience will be treated to a trio of SPHS flutists: Emily Paul, Alicia Woods, and Skyler Anderson. They play “The Dance of the Reed-Flutes” during the Marzipan dance.
The roles of cast members get little mention here because most members have two to four roles. Additionally, everyone is an understudy. They are rarely used, however, for as Amy Poburka, an eighth grader, said, “You’ve been working so hard, you don’t want to miss out.”
Karin Davis, a thirteen-year-old, spoke of pre-curtain jitters. She has a nervous, happy feeling, but “as soon as you’re on stage, you don’t remember it. The music tells you what to do.”
Other dancers had similar thoughts. Millie Gaede, a German foreign exchange student at West High School, says, “Dance connects, and you don’t need a language when you dance because language is a dance of its own.
Kendra Shoemaker, a fifth grader at North Intermediate and in her first “Nutcracker,” began watching “The Nutcracker” at a very young age, beginning her love of choreographing. To her, the dancers she watched had “bodies that are like playing the music…their dance steps are making the music.”
Bailey Zallek, a SPHS sophomore, offered an explanation of how “The Nutcracker” means she has two Christmases every year. Having been with MBC for many years, she has been in many “Nutcrackers,” which has helped establish the ballet as a tradition she dearly treasures. There is December 25, but there is also “The Nutcracker.”
Long-time fans of “The Nutcracker” may view it in a similar manner, and for those looking to start a tradition, this year’s “Nutcracker,” with its freshness and energy, may well be the place to go.
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