Children who are members of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s ‘party scene’ cast for ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou’ rehearse in the Dancers’ Workshop.
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in Baton Rouge without its “Nutcrackers,” so plan to celebrate the holiday season with these two stage productions.
‘A Tale From the Bayou’
Harrison Muñoz jumps up, arms wide, ready for his close-up.
It’s just rehearsals now, but he’ll get his spotlight moment soon enough in Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s production of “The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.”
The company will offer four performances of the ballet at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 20 and 21, in the Raising Cane’s River Center Theatre for Performing Arts. The dancers will be accompanied by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Torns.
Ballet instructor Anna White, back, laughs as Harrison Muñoz reacts after receiving a kiss from a girl during his spotlight moment in a rehearsal of the ‘party scene’ of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
“When the boys and girls greet each other during the party scene, a girl will give him (Harrison) a kiss on the cheek,” said Anna White, a teacher assistant for the ballet company. “Both of their reactions are really cute.”
White understands Harrison’s excitement. She danced in a variety of “Nutcracker” roles in childhood, culminating in the lead as Clara.
And speaking of Clara, this year there are four dancers whose Christmas gift is a Nutcracker who whisks them away to a south Louisiana style Land of the Sweets.
Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s child cast members rehearse their dance in the ‘party scene’ for ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
“We each dance in one of the four performances,” said 14-year-old Ai Nguyen.
She sits in a corner of the Dancers’ Workshop studio with her fellow Claras — Merci Higdon, 13; Sarah Lavigne, 13; and Kate Torrance, 12. All watch while the party scene children dancers warm up.
Each year, the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre casts more than 200 children in its annual holiday production of “The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.”
Ai takes special interest since she’ll be dancing the part of Clara in this day’s full party rehearsal of kids and adults. She’ll be the one tussling with Clara’s younger brother, Fritz, played in alternate productions by Theo Whidden and Bristol Mayo.
Ai Nguyen raises the Nutcracker for all of the guests to see during a rehearsal of the ‘party scene’ of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’ Nguyen is one of four dancers performing the part of main character, Clara.
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
And all eyes will be on her when she, as Clara, lovingly lifts the Nutcracker from a large gift box at center stage. But that will come later when the kids join the adults in the Dancers’ Workshop’s second studio.
For now, Harrison and the rest of the boys line up along the barre and wait for their cue to join the girls on the floor.
Harrison, like most boys in the party scene cast, isn’t studying ballet. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t learning some dance steps along the way.
Aspiring ballerinas wait for their turn on the dance floor during a rehearsal of the ‘party scene’ in ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
When he spots a camera pointed his way before a recent Sunday evening rehearsal, he waves his arms, shouting, “Take my picture,” and the photographer complies.
A burst of giggles erupts from the girl dancers watching Harrison’s antics. All study dance either with the company or other area dance companies.
“We started rehearsing in October,” said Jonna Cox who serves as the company’s co-artistic director with Rebecca Acosta. “Each scene is rehearsed separately, and the dancers won’t see it come together until we rehearse the entire ballet on the River Center Theatre stage.”
Boy cast members smile for the camera while waiting for their turn on the dance floor during a rehearsal of the ‘party scene’ in Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s production of ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
That’s when it becomes real for the kids.
“They’re suddenly standing among the big sets, and everyone is there,” Cox said.
“Everyone” includes the production’s 200 kids, most of whom will dance such roles as cherubs, mice and lambs in other scenes — and most are girls.
“We’d love to have more boys,” Cox said. “This year, a lot of the boys in our party scene were coaxed by family members of other dancers, because we didn’t have enough boys come out for the auditions.”
Young dancers rehearse their parts for ‘the party scene’ in Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
In the end, plenty of boys showed up to march across the stage carrying toy swords for this annual holiday production, created in 1992 by retired co-artistic directors Sharon Mathews and Molly Buchmann.
At the rehearsal, Buchmann stands in for an absent Leonard Augustus in Augustus’ signature role of Uncle Drosselmeyer.
The production also will feature Baton Rouge Ballet alumna Emelia Perkins as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Harlem Dance Theatre company member Sanford Placide as her Cavalier.
Young dancers rehearse their parts for ‘the party scene’ in ‘The Nutcracker — A Tale From The Bayou.’
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
Harrison’s excitement is contagious, spinning “Nutcracker” magic even among the adults — a magic that surely will spread to the audience on opening night.
‘Holiday Nutcracker’
The Cangelosi Dance Project’s “Holiday Nutcracker” is continuously evolving, offering patrons something different each year.
And this year will be no different as the company takes the Dunham School’s Brown-Holt Theatre stage for two performances at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20.
“So, this year, we are tweaking it,'” said Kris Cangelosi, the company’s founder, artistic director and choreographer. “One thing I’m doing is bringing in several guest artists from all over to do some of the major roles. This year, we’ve invited professional ballerina Maddie Kucensky from Ballet Spartanburg in Greenville, South Carolina, to perform Sugar Plum Fairy.”
Emmy Wesley will dance the part of Clara in Cangelosi Dance Project’s ‘Holiday Nutcracker.’
PROVIDED PHOTO BY MATT GRINER
Also taking the stage with the Cangelosi dancers will be internationally renowned professional dancer Daniel Therrien to perform the “Russian.”
“I’ve also been choreographing the Mississippi Gulf Coast Ballet Theatre’s ‘Nutcracker’ this year in Biloxi for the past five months, and I’m bringing in pre-professional dancers from that company to dance with us, including Oliva Burns, who will dance the ‘Spanish,’ and Leila Pitcovich as the Angel Queen.”
In the meantime, Cangelosi has expanded the “angel” section of her “Nutcracker” and added company dancer Courtney David to perform the role of Guardian Angel.
Jeremy Wesley will portray Uncle Drosselmeyer in Cangelosi Dance Project’s ‘Holiday Nutcracker.’
PROVIDED PHOTO BY MATT GRINER
Cangelosi’s cast of 50 also will include Jeremy Wesley as Uncle Drosselmeyer, who presents Clara with the gift of the Nutcracker; Angelique Francois performing the mechanical doll and the “Arabian”; Nicole Crochet as the party maid and Mother Ginger; Philip Wesley as the Butler and the Rat King; and John Henry Overton as the Butler and Nutcracker Prince.
And in the spotlight as Clara will be Emmy Wesley, while Mary Bowman Staples will play her little sister, Grace.
“Holiday Nutcracker” is choreographed as a traditional “Nutcracker” performance to composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1892 “Nutcracker Suite.”
But with the Cangelosi Dance Project, each holiday season brings something new to spread Christmas cheer.