The Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance, located in downtown Manitowoc, will be performing its annual Nutcracker Ballet at the Capitol Civic Centre this weekend.
The Nutcracker story was originally written by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 and adapted by Alexandre Dumas Père in 1845, which is the version of the Christmas fairy tale that is beloved today.
The story was set to music orchestrated by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky began writing The Nutcracker in February of 1891 and finished the piece by April of 1892.
It was then commissioned by the director of Mascow’s Imperial Theatres in Russia.
The studio performed the premiere of the Nutcracker ballet a week before Christmas day in 1892.
The Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance will be performing the globally known ballet for the 49th year this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (December 13th – 15th).
Though the performance is in mid-December, studio owner Crystal Lavallee says the Jean Wolfmeyer dancers have been working on their Nutcracker performance for quite some time.
“We actually begin working on the Nutcracker in July, but full rehearsals begin in late September,” she explained. “That is when we do auditions and start putting the cast together. I usually describe it as a huge puzzle with lots of pieces. Each year the dancers bring a new perspective to the show so it’s so much fun to watch the whole show come together and see what new ways the kids will tell the story each year.”
Lavallee is extremely proud of the group of dancers in the show this year and the work they put into their performance.
“We had a huge group of incredible seniors graduate last year, so our underclassman had to take on a ton of new and challenging roles that they had never done before,” she told SeehaferNews.com. “They worked really hard and didn’t miss a beat. They had big shoes to fill, and they definitely made it happen.”
Each different company or studio has their own version of the Nutcracker ballet, though Lavallee believes one particular scene from their performance is a little extra unique.
“I think one of the most special moments in our performance of the Nutcracker is the snow scene. It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “Every Nutcracker has a version of it, but ours really brings you right into the forest. It’s truly magical. It’s also an incredible experience for our dancers to get to share the stage with our professional dancers that come in each year.”
Behind all the hours of work put into their Nutcracker performance, Lavallee explained that she wants the audience to take away one simple thing from it all.
“I hope they feel the magic that is the Nutcracker, the magic is in every one of those kids on that stage,” she expressed. “I love getting to watch all of their hard work turn into a beautiful performance, and I hope that the audience feels that same magic.”
Visit the Capitol Civic Centre website to purchase tickets for their annual Nutcracker ballet.
