Olympia dancers, now professionals, return as the leads in Studio West’s Nutcracker

Molly Gilmore
·4 min read

Studio West Dance Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” is a tradition not only for the audiences who see it each year, but also for professional dancers Cole McMason and Hannah Smith, who grew up in Olympia.

The production, opening Friday, Nov. 24, is a homecoming for the dancers, both of whom grew up dancing with the company and now dance with Ballet Tucson. This is McMason and Smith’s third year returning to town to dance the lead roles of Cavalier and Sugar Plum Fairy.

“It’s full circle,” said Stephanie Wood-Ennett, co-director of Studio West.

The Tchaikovsky classic played a pivotal role in both McMason’s and Smith’s career decisions.

In fact, McMason’s introduction to ballet was performing in the company’s first “Nutcracker” in 2009, when he was 8 years old.

“I only started dancing because of ‘The Nutcracker,’ ” he said. “Studio West was looking for little boys for the party scene. My mom had heard about it from a friend, and she asked me if it was something I might want to do.

“I was like, ‘Oh, sure, I guess that could be fun.’ ” It was, and he started taking lessons, which the studio offered free to boys who’d been in that first production.

Since then, he has kept on dancing — with Studio West until he graduated from Charles Wright Academy in University Place in 2019, then in Seattle and finally in Tucson, where he’s part of the corps de ballet.

Smith’s first “Nutcracker” was in 2010, when she played one of Mother Ginger’s children. She was in every subsequent production until the pandemic halted live performances, but even in 2020, she danced the Sugar Plum Fairy role in Studio West’s “Boundless,” a collection of filmed performances.

“ ‘Nutcracker’ put the performing fire in me at a really young age,” said Smith, who graduated from Olympia High School and South Puget Sound Community College’s Running Start in 2021. “There’s just something so special and unlike anything else about stepping out under the lights and being able to do what you love.”

As much as she loved dance, Smith hadn’t planned to pursue a ballet career. Then came the pandemic.

“During my senior year of high school, I was actually planning on going to the University of Washington,” she said. “When COVID hit and I wasn’t able to perform, I realized just how badly I needed to keep this part of my life going.”

Now an apprentice at Ballet Tucson, she hasn’t missed a “Nutcracker” since.

Smith and McMason are able to return to Olympia and perform as guest dancers because Studio West does its “Nutcracker” over Thanksgiving weekend, when Ballet Tucson is on a break. “This is the one week that we could come and perform at home,” McMason said.

It also proved to be good timing for one of Olympia’s two “Nutcrackers,” Wood-Ennett said. She had long been hesitant to move Studio West’s production to November but decided to give it a try in 2021.

“We are loving having the ballet over Thanksgiving weekend,” she said. “It’s super special.”

McMason and Smith will dance in both 7 p.m. performances, Friday and Saturday, and at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26. At the other performances, Aidan Hodo, 16 and a junior at Capital High School, will play the Cavalier, and Katelyn Beaulieu, 18 and a senior at Black Hills High School, will dance the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Sharing the role of Clara are Kate Abbott, 15 and a sophomore at River Ridge High School, and Kabella Graves, 15 and a sophomore at Olympia. Hodo will share the role of Nutcracker with Jones Dillard-Disston, 14 and a freshman at Capital.

Studio West Dance Theatre’s ‘The Nutcracker’

  • When: 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25; 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26; and 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27.

  • Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia

  • Tickets: $18-$34

  • More information: https://www.washingtoncenter.org/organizer/studio-west-dance-theatre

  • Also: Clara’s Nutcracker Party, a pre-show celebration for children 3 and older, happens at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, and noon Sunday, Nov. 26. Tickets are $16 for children, and accompanying adults are admitted free.