Dancers raise the bar in ‘The Nutcracker’

JOCELYN MURPHY

jmurphy@nwadg.com

It is nearly synonymous with the Christmas season: Clara, her Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King chassé their way across stages all over the world each year as thousands make a viewing of “The Nutcracker” part of their holiday traditions. The ballet adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story set to the iconic Tchaikovsky score will kick off the holiday season for many in Northwest Arkansas with four different companies hosting performances.

The Walton Arts Center welcomes Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet back to Fayetteville Nov. 23-25 as 50 local children join the professional company on stage. Ballet Westside’s dance team Northwest Arkansas Regional Dance Company in Rogers, Fort Smith’s Western Arkansas Ballet and Bentonville’s Northwest Arkansas Conservatory of Classical Ballet also offer their takes on the beloved story in December. Here, get to know some of the children helping bring the classic ballet to life at WAC and then visit each company’s website for full cast and performance information.

Walton Arts Center

2018 Children’s Cast

Adelyn Bramlett

Role: Party Boy

&

Quinn Bramlett

Role: Polar Bear

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

Adelyn — My favorite dance move is a Firebird leap.

Quinn — A leg lift.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

Adelyn — Everyone at practice knows I have a lot of crazy things in my dance bag, so my favorite would be my toy handcuffs.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Adelyn — My best advice would be that you can’t sit around and dream it, you have to go out and do it to achieve all your dreams.

Quinn — To try as hard as you can and have fun!

• What do you love most about ballet?

Adelyn — Ballet makes me feel like a princess and that it is my time to shine.

Quinn — Warming up.

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Brady Chandler

Role: Reindeer

• What is it like to work with the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

It feels like I’m a part of something amazing because I’m dancing with professionals.

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

I loved when I was a gingersnap in “Hansel and Gretel” with Arkansas Festival Ballet.

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

That it is not easy. It’s very hard and takes a lot of strength.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

To create a specific character for each dance you do. It really helps with expression.

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Carrington Cartwright

Role: Angel

• What are you most looking forward to about dancing alongside the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

I can’t wait to see the pretty costumes.

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

Miss Annika is helping me work on my fouettés right now; they are so fun.

• Who is your favorite dancer?

My sister, Chandler, is my favorite dancer — she is a Silver Star. My mom said if I am not too busy when I get big that I can maybe try to be a Silver Star, too.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My Polaroid camera; we take silly pictures at dance sometimes.

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Eleanor Eichmann

Role: Party Girl

• Is there anything just for fun in your dance bag? Candy.

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

It’s harder than it looks.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

A dancer’s body is like a noodle: If you don’t warm up and stretch before you start dancing, you’ll break. If you warm up and stretch first, you’ll be as flexible as a cooked noodle.

• What do you love most about ballet?

The challenging aspect of it.

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Emalyn Johnson

Role: Mountie

• What are you most looking forward to about dancing alongside the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

This is my second time to have this experience. It was so fun last time. I was a polar bear. They are so nice. And they dance beautifully.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag? Is there anything just for fun in there?

Yes! I always have my No. 3 Kyler necklace for good luck. And gum!

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

It is hard! Yes, it is fun also. But it takes a lot of practice. And it’s an important art form.

• What do you love most about ballet?

It’s something I can share with my mom. She loves to watch me dance and most times she is the one blubbering in the audience. But it’s our “thing,” and I love sharing that with her.

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Emilea G. Ree

Role: Mountie

• What are you most looking forward to about dancing alongside the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

I get to see what they do and hopefully become one.

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

The Floss!

• Who is your favorite dancer?

Myself

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Practice makes better – no one is perfect.

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Emily Thomas

Role: Reindeer

• What made you want to become a dancer?

I love that through dance I can express myself and my feelings. I also get to meet all kinds of people and make connections with people who I might otherwise never get to meet.

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I have done a lot of musical theater dance, and I like characters that are really animated and silly.

• What do you love most about ballet?

I love that it’s the foundation of all dance, and for me it’s relaxing to both watch and dance. I also love that it looks graceful and easy, yet it takes so much skill and hard work to make it look like that.

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Gracie Love Kennett

Role: Reindeer

• When did you start performing on stage?

I was in my first stage performance when I was 3 years old. This is my 10th year performing on stage. I love it more every year!

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My water bottle. After a long day of classes or rehearsals, I definitely need lots of water!

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

Dance is a sport! We work really hard, we have strong bodies, and we are athletes. It’s harder than it looks.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

There’s nothing you can’t do if you are willing to work hard for it and not give up. In everything you do, do it from your heart.

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Hudson Horton

Role: Mouse

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

Russians and chaine turns.

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

It takes a long time to dance like a professional.

• What do you love most about ballet?

Doing tendu on the floor.

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Jade Holland

Role: Mouse

• When did you start performing on stage?

When I was 2 years old! My biggest show has been “Once” at TheatreSquared. I played Ivanka earlier this year.

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

My own moves are my favorite moves! Hip hop and jazz classes are my favorites.

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

Ivanka in “Once” and pretty sure I’m going to love being a mouse in “The Nutcracker.”

• Who is your favorite dancer?

Witney Carson from “Dancing with the Stars.”

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Kennedy Ragar

Role: Dieter

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

My favorite dance move is a Calypso Leap and then roll to the ground.

• Who is your favorite dancer?

My favorite dancer is Moira Shearer, also known as Lady Kennedy, who was a famous British ballet dancer and actress.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My favorite item in my dance bag is my magic bun maker. It makes it quick and easy to style my hair in a bun.

• What do you want non-dancers to know about what you do?

I want my friends to know that dancing can be difficult, and I spend at least 10-12 hours a week in the studio after school. I have been dancing for six years.

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Lucia Moore

Role: Party Girl

• What made you want to become a dancer?

I used to take gymnastics, but I felt like it wasn’t the best for me. While at the gym one day, I saw the dancers dancing through the glass and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I love music and expressing my feelings with dance.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My favorite item in my dance bag is my dance journal. It helps me remember and apply corrections and tips for each dance I am part of.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

To give anything less than your best is sacrificing the gift.

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Madilyn Savage

Role: Mountie

• What are you most looking forward to about dancing alongside the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

Watching the dancers in their pointe shoes.

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

My favorite character that I have played is an angel, but I really love the party girls!

• Who is your favorite dancer?

My friend, Ema, and one of the older girls at my studio, Macy. She is SO good! I love to watch her!

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

My dad once told me that nobody else gets to decide who Madi is going to be. I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not. I get to just be myself. I really liked that advice and try to remember it.

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Matthias Gwinn

Role: Party Boy

• When did you start performing on stage?

I started dancing when I was 3. My first role on stage was when I was 4. I was a candlestick in “Mother Goose” at Springfield Ballet. My brother was Jack and had to jump over me. I was afraid he would miss.

• Who is your favorite dancer?

My brother because he is the one who got me into this. He is the best dancer I know because he perseveres even when things don’t go his way. He is a good role model.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

Food! Lots of snacks. It is a myth that dancers don’t eat a lot. We eat all the time for energy.

• What do you love most about ballet?

I enjoy getting lost in the music and not thinking about anything else but ballet. I love learning new things from my ballet teachers, especially when I do summer intensives.

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Naomi Greenway

Role: Angel

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

I love to leap.

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

I loved the mouse part in “The Nutcracker” because it was super cute and I got to be on stage with a lot of the professional dancers.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My favorite item is my ballet shoes, and my fun and silly item is a Starbucks gift card in case I need some extra energy.

• What do you love most about ballet?

I love ballet because it’s athletic and beautiful and you get to dance to interesting music.

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Natalie Bell

Role: Party Child

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

Arabesque. They can be soft and floating or powerful and dramatic.

• Who is your favorite dancer?

Misty Copeland. She is a great role model and encourages dancers to be strong and healthy.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

The most surprising thing is my baby powder. I use it to help keep my toe pads clean. My favorite item is my pointe shoes.

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

To make yourself look like a dancer you have to have enough confidence in yourself to really FEEL like a dancer.

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Quinn Ballew

Role: Polar bear

• What is your favorite dance move to perform?

My favorite move is the pas de chat, otherwise known as the cat step.

•Who is your favorite character to dance?

My favorite character to dance is Firebird, the bird Misty Copeland played [in Stravinsky’s “Firebird”].

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My favorite item in my dance bag is snacks because I am always hungry.

• What do you love most about ballet?

I love ballet because it is very calm.

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Sara Justice

Role: Reindeer

• Who is your favorite character to dance?

Last year for my solo, I got to play the evil queen from “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” and it has been my favorite so far.

• Who is your favorite dancer?

Haylee Rodrick from the In10sity In10sive.

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My favorite thing in my dance bag is actually on it. In the midst of all my other decorations and puffys, I have a grey puffball that looks like an owl.

• What do you love most about ballet?

My favorite thing about ballet is that it is the basis for all other forms of dance. The more I improve in ballet, the more I improve everywhere.

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Vivian Bullock

Role: Mouse

• What are you most looking forward to about dancing alongside the professional dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet?

It makes me feel proud and kind of famous!

• What is your favorite item in your dance bag?

My leos (leotards) are my favorite and I keep slime in there, too!

• What is the best advice you have ever been given?

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

• What do you love most about ballet?

[It’s] so graceful and beautiful to watch.

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FAQ

Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet

WHEN — 7 p.m. Nov. 23; 2 & 7 p.m. Nov. 24; 2 p.m. Nov. 25

WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville

COST — $19-$52

INFO — 445-5600, waltonartscenter.org

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FAQ

NWA Conservatory of Classical Ballet

WHEN — 7 p.m. Dec. 1; 2 p.m. Dec. 2

WHERE — Arend Arts Center at Bentonville High School

COST — $20-$25

INFO — 553-7400, nwaballet.com

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FAQ

Ballet Westside

NWA Regional Dance Co.

WHEN — 7 p.m. Dec. 8; 2 p.m. Dec. 9

WHERE — Rogers High School

COST — $6-$12

INFO — 636-6678, balletwestside.com

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FAQ

Western Arkansas Ballet

WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15; 2:30 p.m. Dec. 16

WHERE — ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center in Fort Smith

COST — $25

INFO — 785-0152, waballet.org

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