Wednesday, December 10, 2003
|
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 |
|
GYB presents “The Nutcracker” this weekend Company changes up some choreography in eighth production By MICHAEL BOYLAN The Christmas season is often looked upon as a magical time of the year. This is reflected in many of the stories that are told year after year. One popular story is that of “The Nutcracker,” and Georgia Youth Ballet’s production promises to bring a little bit of magic to their audiences this weekend. This is the eighth year that GYB has performed “The Nutcracker” and this year’s production brings back a lot of audience favorites and also offers some new choreography. Artistic Director Magdalena Maury has reworked some of the numbers for two reasons. “We want to showcase the strengths of our dancers,” said Maury, “and, of course, we want to keep the show fresh and full of surprises for our audiences.” One number that boasts some new choreography is the audience favorite Chinese dance. Another special attraction of the GYB production is the large cast. There are 130 dancers in this year’s production and 32 of them are siblings. There are 13 sets of siblings in the show and five families with three dancers each. Some siblings even share lead roles. Kristin Cawley will perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her younger sister, Kara, is one of the girls playing Clara. The other girl playing Clara is Jana Shivers and her sister, Leslie, will dance the role of the Snow Queen. “I don’t know that we encourage siblings to join our company,” said Maury. “It’s just that they usually have a lot in common. You can definitely see the similarity in all of our sets of siblings. They like each other and they like to dance.” The process of staging this show began with auditions in August. Since then all of the dancers have learned their roles and are ready to bring the story to life. For those unfamiliar with the story the plot revolves around a little girl, Clara, who receives a nutcracker from the mysterious Herr Drosselmeyer. Clara’s brother, Fritz, breaks the nutcracker, Drosselmeyer fixes it and Clara dreams of her nutcracker becoming a prince. She and the prince travel to the Land of Sweets and meet characters like Spanish Chocolate, Chinese tea and Gumdrops, among others. The show is set to the music of Tchaikovsky. “The Nutcracker” will be performed at Our Lady of Mercy High School Dec. 12-14, though Friday night’s show is already sold out. Phone 770-716-9858 or visit www.gyb.us for more information on tickets and reservations. |
