Ballet Wooster’s largest-ever ‘Nutcracker’ brings fresh interpretations to beloved tradition

A biennial holiday tradition returns to Wayne County as Ballet Wooster presents "The Nutcracker Ballet" at OARDC’s Fisher Auditorium, with shows Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

The story of "The Nutcracker Ballet" was adapted from a book by E.T.A. Hoffman called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” Pyotr Tchaikovsky composed the score for the ballet, with the first production taking place December 1892 in Russia. The story is about a young girl named Clara who receives a nutcracker for Christmas. The nutcracker comes to life as a prince, and after the Nutcracker Prince battles with the Mouse Queen, the Prince and Clara travel to the Land of Sweets, where the famous Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy takes place.

Because the ballet takes place on Christmas Eve and made its debut in December, "The Nutcracker" has become synonymous with the Christmas holiday season, and it is often a family tradition to attend the ballet to celebrate the season.

This is Ballet Wooster’s fifth "Nutcracker" production, with the inaugural production occurring in December 2017. Ballet Wooster’s tradition has been to perform "The Nutcracker" in odd years for a few reasons.

“Performing every other year is largely because it is a massive undertaking for dancers, instructors and volunteers," said Zelie McLain, Ballet Wooster’s artistic director. "Hundreds of hours go into the preparations for production, beginning in the preceding summer. It is also beneficial for dancers to have an off year to be able to focus on developing good technique and making progress as dancers without the distractions of a performance. The tradition we have developed helps preserve the high quality of the ballet program.”

This year’s production features 110 dancers age 5-18 and 11 adult community members in the cast. The main characters are portrayed by area high-schoolers including lead character Clara, portrayed by Abigail Wiles, senior at Norwayne High School; the Nutcracker Prince, portrayed by Nash Flory, freshman at Wooster High School; the Mouse Queen, danced by Olivia Carnes, senior at Triway High School; Snow Queen, played by Elise Sabourin, senior at the Wayne County Schools Career Center; the Dew Drop Fairy, danced by Ruthie Finney, a junior at Triway High School; and Calista Tullos, senior at the Wayne County Schools Career Center, dances the lead in the Nutcracker Tea Dance.

While part of the charm of "The Nutcracker" is the dances and plot line largely remain the same over the years and across various productions, McLain said there were some notable changes this year.

“This year, for example, as a company, Ballet Wooster has had an exciting addition of older students who are new to ballet," McLain said. "The challenge then is creating roles that reflect the age of the dancer but with roles also appropriate for each dancer’s skill set. This year’s production also is the largest number of dancers involved in a 'Nutcracker' in Ballet Wooster history, so scenes have been somewhat reimagined to accommodate more dancers. Another notable change for this year is that the character Drosselmeyer, usually played as a male role, has been reimagined into a female role, played by Ballet Wooster alumni/instructor Annie McLain.”

The teaching faculty at Ballet Wooster has been working hard on the production. Faculty includes Zelie McLain, artistic director; Brenda Schwinn, artistic director emeritus; Meghan O’Planick, instructor/choreographer; Annie McLain, instructor/choreographer; and Myra Yurchek, instructor.

Ballet Wooster is a nonprofit, noncompetitive ballet school and youth company. The studio offers classes in ballet and creative movement for students age 18 months to adult.

Ballet Wooster also is a preprofessional company for intermediate and advanced dancers. Dance levels are determined by faculty evaluations each year. Company dancers attend ballet classes two to three times weekly, increasing in frequency and duration as their skill level increases.

In addition to Ballet Wooster’s biennial production of “The Nutcracker,” the studio also puts on a spring ballet each year. Last spring Ballet Wooster presented “The Wizard of Oz.” This year’s spring production will be announced after the holidays. The studio’s spring classes will begin in January.

For more information on registering for classes or purchasing tickets in advance, visit www.balletwooster.org. Tickets also will be available at the door.