What is a Cape Cod-centric 'Nutcracker'? Check out the Turning Pointe dancers in Falmouth

When artistic director Laura Sciortino met with families at Turning Pointe Dance Studio to ask about bringing back “The Sea Captain’s Nutcracker” this year, the response, she says, “was overwhelmingly positive to move forward.”

It has been three years since Falmouth-based Turning Pointe staged the Cape Cod-centric version of the classic ballet, but with COVID-19 vaccinations and safety precautions in place, Sciortino felt it was safe to resume this year’s production. Four shows will take place Saturday and Sunday at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable — with only 50% capacity of the 600-seat Tilden Arts Center for each show and deep sanitation of seats between performances.

Proof of vaccination will be required for ages 12 and up, and masks will be required, even for the young dancers on stage.

Keeping the children under age 12 “safe and healthy” is a priority, Sciortino says, noting that while “many have received their first doses, they have not had enough time to be fully vaccinated yet.” Live-stream tickets are also available for those who would prefer to watch from home.

One dancer for whom the return of “Sea Captain’s Nutcracker” is particularly special is Lindsay McKeon because, for the high school senior, it is her last “Nutcracker” after 15 years of dancing at Turning Pointe. McKeon will solo as the Beach Rose and will also perform in the snow scene.

“The energy in rehearsals is so high, everyone is simply happy to be there,” she says. “Personally, I can’t wait until I can bring that excitement to the stage and present it to the audience.”

The localized production is set to Tchaikovsky’s classic score, but has innovations, including an opening with John Lennon’s “So This is Christmas” and a setting in a mid-1800s Chatham sea captain’s home. The show, written by local authors Donna Smith and Anne LeClaire, includes a battle scene on a ship attacked by mooncussers off Eastham; a salty sea captain instead of the Drosselmeyer character as Clara’s uncle; and scenes that include the “Waltz of the Sea Grass” and the “Dance of the Icy Winds.”

The unusual version of young Clara’s Christmas party and dream is a biannual tradition for Turning Pointe, so the most recent production was in 2018. In between, the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the studio and its dancers in a variety of ways.

A period of uncertainty

The strongest impact on Sciortino’s studio was financial. “In 2020-2021, I took a major hit because class sizes needed to be so small,” the Falmouth native says. “I am slowly working my way to things being normal again.” Not knowing what dances or classes would look like from one month to the next was frightening and stressful for her, she says.

According to Dance USA, the performing arts industry at large saw a decline of more than $30 billion in consumer spending as dance shut down along with the rest of the world.

McKeon was at the peak of her training when the studio closed in March 2020. “I went for about three months, sitting in my room, doing nothing. Before the pandemic hit, I was at the studio seven days a week, for at least four hours a day,” she says.

It was startling to have what had become her passion and purpose in life simply swept out from under her feet. “Without classes or rehearsals, I had no motivation, no reason to push myself the way that I had in the past. And not knowing how long the period of inactivity would last didn’t help either,” she says.

The period of uncertainty — with no solid audience base and an inability to even rehearse together — sent many dancers into a slump, and even led some to question their career choices.

Before the pandemic, McKeon says, she had been “absolutely dead set on becoming a professional ballerina,” but wasn’t sure that made sense when after it all shut down so quickly.

Her quandary was echoed throughout the dance community, where teachers and dancers tried to work online and studios needed to adapt. At Turning Pointe, classes were held online for a time, then students slowly trickled back in person as restrictions relaxed.

When McKeon first stepped into the studio after quarantine, she says, she felt “a wave of overwhelming relief, that things were somehow returning to normalcy coupled with the excitement of getting back to the thing that I loved. … I remember never dancing harder, and with more passion, than I did that first class back.”

Sciortino strictly enforced safety measures, with all students wearing masks, distancing 8 feet from each other, sanitizing studio surfaces, opening windows and using strong air purifiers. When one student tested positive and a group of 17 teachers and students — including McKeon — were considered close contacts, Sciortino shut down for a week for everyone to quarantine and test. There was zero transmission, she says.

Not giving up

If the financial and health stress of the pandemic has had any upside, Sciortino says, it has been the resilience of the dance community. “It has been quite empowering knowing that as a team we can get through this and we can get through anything! My dance community has been amazing at not giving up,” she says.

And now the dancers will be back on stage, with “Sea Captain’s Nutcracker” involving about 95 local students plus local actors and professional guest dancers. Among the guests will be Alex Lantz, who has danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Canada, as the Cavalier; Christopher John Phillips, a Cape Codder who has worked as a freelance dancer with companies across the country, as Russian Sailor; and Tara McCally, an award-winning dancer from Texas, as Beach Castle Princess. Also performing will be Sciortino herself, Catherine Batcheller, Joseph Cipolla, and Yves de Bouteiller.

The show’s original set and costume designs are by London stage designer Jean Mark Puissant, with some new costumes and sets added again this year.

Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll contributed to this report.

If you go

What: “The Sea Captain’s Nutcracker”

Presented by: Turning Pointe Dance Studio

When: 2 and 6 p.m. Nov. 27 and noon and 4 p.m. Nov. 28

Where: Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College, 2240 Iyannough Road, West Barnstable

Reservations and information on in-person shows: https://dancestudio-pro.com/tickets/turningpointedancestudio

For live-stream tickets: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/56857

COVID-19 protocols: All patrons ages 12 and up must show proof of full vaccination. Masks are required for all audience members.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth dancers return to stage in Cape Cod-centric 'Nutcracker'