DDC's 'Nutcracker Princess' returns to Wallace Hall after two years outdoors
One of Gadsden’s fall traditions is moving back indoors.
The Downtown Dance Conservatory presents “The Nutcracker Princess” Nov. 18-20 in the Wallace Hall Fine Arts Center on Gadsden State Community College’s Wallace Drive campus.
The dance group first staged Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic work in 2010, missing only a couple of years since then according to DDC Artistic Director Linze Rickles McRae.
Ironically, those weren’t the COVID-19 pandemic years; the DDC performed the ballet outdoors, at the Mort Glosser Amphitheatre, in 2020 and 2021. That nod to safety created a host of other problems, however.
“My husband, my staff and I had to bring everything over there,” McRae said. “We had no fly, we had to rearrange the choreography, we had to deal with the weather and we had to wire the stairs for electricity. It was a huge ordeal
“It’s beautiful when it works out, but I don’t think people realize how much work goes into producing something of that magnitude,” she said.
Moving back into Wallace Hall will allow the DDC to use stage backdrops and costumes that weren’t possible in the outdoor productions, McRae said.
The DDC has been involved with various “Nutcracker” productions, including “Le Casse Noix Moderne: The Modern Nutcracker,” a collaboration with the Etowah Youth Orchestras that ran for two years and had a sellout production in New York. It was nominated for the Goldstar Nutcracker Award as one of the country’s top 50 most original "Nutcrackers.”
And for two seasons, the DDC hosted, participated in and staged the “Great Russian Nutcracker” with the Moscow Ballet.
“The community agreed that with the quality of ballet students we are able to present, we could produce our own locally grown ‘Nutcracker’ with all the magic and glamour of the larger productions performed around the country,” McRae said.
So, she referenced the original choreography by Marius Petipa, and the 1816 short story by E.T.A. Hoffman, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” which inspired the ballet, in creating her own version of “The Nutcracker.” It emphasizes the work’s Russian flair and provides a twist on the tradition’s origin.
“There have been some changes through the years,” McRae said. “We have some new staging this year, so we’re glad to be able to bring back some set pieces that we weren’t able to use outdoors.”
The plot, from a news release on the ballet:
“The story begins with a Christmas Eve gathering at the Stahlbaum house. Marie and her little sister, Masha, enjoy the evening’s festivities when their mysterious godmother, Madame Drosselmeyer, arrives. As a famous toymaker, she brings her matryoshka dolls, her shepherdess dolls and her little lamb doll to dance for all the children of the party.
“Marie receives the most beautiful doll of all, a Nutcracker Princess. As the party grows late and the guests leave, Marie falls asleep under the tree with her beloved doll. She awakens at the chime of midnight to find the evil Spider Queen, Evilla Baba Yaga, and her army of spiders circling the room. She looks around to see that the room has grown and she now is the size of her toys.
“Her brave Nutcracker Princess comes to life and a battle ensues, as the princess defeats the Spider Queen. She whisks Marie away to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy, queen of the Land of Sweets. Marie is met by frozen flurries to find herself in a magical land where confectionery delights from all the corners of the world join in the dance to celebrate.”
McRae said this year’s cast features 185 young dancers. The DDC’s upper school students, soloists and corps de ballet, fill the primary roles and have been practicing since September. Dancers in grades 1 through 5 audition for roles in the youth cast.
Performances are 6 p.m. Nov. 18 and 19, and 2 p.m. Nov. 20.
Tickets this year are general admission and are $20. They are available at www.culturalarts.com/boxoffice.
This is the DDC’s 20th year of instructing young dancers; McRae said it has roughly 500 students.
For more information on the group and its programs, visit www.culturalarts.org.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Dance group set for annual Nutcracker production