Backstage opening night: The excitement of hundreds of
children scampering around already in costume or completely lost and out of
costume. There is a buzz…within the
dancers, within the company, within the staff, within the children, within
their parents, and within the community.
Another Nutcracker is about to open!
What will happen this year? Who
will be the stand out performers? Who will make a heartbreaking mistake? It’s all part of the passion and thrills of
this whirlwind experience!
Col. Fred mans the stage door to make things work in
military fashion; he’d have it no other way.
The professional dancers are all slowly making their way to the company
warm-up class. The younger dancers eagerly
stretch and warm-up, while the elder statesmen postpone the inevitable of
pushing through the soreness of the grueling schedule. All dancers hesitate when the sound of high
heels are heard sharply walking into the stage area. It’s Carinne Cunningham (Co-Artistic
Director) coming to teach warm-up. The
whole company lifts in the lower spine that extra inch as she arrives. She is coming in to tweak us that final time
before the public sees us.
Warm-up class is over and Carinne gives her final corrections;
and as she always does, she gives the performance to us, the dancers, to make
it ours! A tall mysterious man, who
frequently played guitar, sang, and drank at after parties (Kevin Ankele) in a
commanding voice announces, “Half-Hour!”
Some dancers still practiced difficult steps and some go and get into
costume.
When entering the hall, the staff, children are buzzing
around like the day before Christmas at Macy’s with everyone shopping for that
last-second gift! If you were lucky
enough to be playing a parent in Act 1, usually one or two of your children
have tracked you down to ask you a few important questions before the
performance, like: do you think the Nutcracker can beat up Batman? Or, are you
married to or in love with your stage wife/husband? And, of course, I would always answer, “yes!”
to both questions.
Depending upon what role you, the dancer, were playing that
performance, dictated the stress level of you and your partner that
evening. If you were granted the gift of
dancing the Snow Pas De Deux or Grand Pas De Deux, you were as focused as
someone competing in the Olympics!
Because of this vigorous over-training required to be a
professional ballet dancer, your muscles, ligaments, and tendons are constantly
being pushed to their limits. We were
lucky to have the Physical Therapy of Jeff Mitchell and his crew. There was always a line to get a little
rubdown, stretch, or treatment prior to the show.
Half Hour has been exhausted by socializing amongst dancers
in the dressing rooms, last minute details, partners discussing steps, people
discussing after party plans, and the staff (Wes, Laurie, Jan) making sure the
kids are all in their places! The tall,
mysterious man yells, “Places!”
Suddenly, for a brief moment, the whole cast of 150+ listens and goes to
their first entrance.
On route to the stage, one might be lucky enough to catch
some true magic of “The Nutcracker” going on back stage. It’s a man in a black cape, black hat, and
eye-patch going over some pantomime.
He’s practicing something he’s probably done thousands of times for
many, many years; a true master at his craft.
After all these years he’s still perfecting each move, not taking
anything for granted. He’s playing the
role of Herr Drosselmeyer. A role most
dancers dread, because that means they are no longer “dancing”. However, this man brings experience,
richness, humor, and passion to the role.
He created his own character of the role. In fact, he also created this whole amazing
version of “The Nutcracker”. This
black-capped man is, of course, Ron Cunningham, the Artistic Director of
Sacramento Ballet.
The main curtain
rises and the sound of the overture is heard, all the butterflies and tingling
begins as each dancer and child hits the stage.
Another Nutcracker has opened!
The actual show seems to have only lasted a moment as
adrenaline takes over. The cast was always supportive during shows particularly
during Nutcracker season. Ron and
Carinne were very generous in giving chances to dancers during this wonderful
time in the theatre! When the curtain
closed there was a sense of accomplishment, relief, and yet still anticipation
for the next Nutcracker performance or the next series of shows after the New
Year.
Ron Cunningham’s “The Nutcracker” was sort of a snap shot of
times at the Sacramento Ballet. We were
a big family with Ron and Carinne as our “parents” (Directors), that worked
together, played together, fought with one another, loved one another,
struggled, failed, succeeded, and in the end made our dreams come true by making
art of dance.
Top Ten highlights of my experience performing “The
Nutcracker”:
- Meeting and working with all those great
children, and watching their expressions when they first hit the stage!
- Having the opportunity to have danced it!
- Touring Canada with it!
- Getting snowed out in Victoria, CA and then
beating the Canadians in a snow fight
- Performing with Ron Cunningham as Herr
Drosselmeyer
- Partnership with Amy Seiwart as Sugar Plum
- Experiencing the growth of both the audience and
the length of the run in the theatre from 2 to 3 weeks
- Getting to perform the role of the Nutcracker
with Alex Cunningham as Clara
- Having special moments onstage with all the
members of Sacramento Ballet
- And last, but certainly not least, the
camaraderie that “The Nutcracker” brought to our company and the whole dance
community, at that time.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
And Merde!
~Rome
Saladino, 1995-2000
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