Wednesday, December 10, 2003
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Wednesday, December 10, 2003 |
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And dreams of sugarplums danced in her head By Stephen W. Lowther “‘Tis the season to be jolly,” so the song goes. Or is it, “In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas?” Whether it is Christmas caroling, gift wrapping or shopping at the mall, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” There’s one other thing that the holiday season means, and that is “visions of sugar plums” dancing in heads of children every where. And if that child is a dancer, then it is visions of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the holiday classic The Nutcracker Ballet. For Katie Rourke, a 17-year-old Starr’s Mill High School senior, she will finally get to be the prima ballerina in what will be her eighth Nutcracker she began taking dance lessons at Georgia Academy of Dance in Peachtree City. “I think it is every dancer’s dream to be Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy,” said Sherri Davis, director of Georgia Academy of Dance.Ê“This young lady has worked her way all the way through the various roles.” The story of the Nutcracker is about a young German girl named Clara who receives a beautiful nutcracker from her godfather at the family‘s annual Christmas party. Her brother Fritz becomes jealous and breaks her new toy. After the party is over and all the house is asleep, Clara sneaks back downstairs to check on her nutcracker soldier. She falls asleep and dreams of a great battle between toy soldiers and a great Rat King. The nutcracker turns into a prince and takes her on a long journey through The Land of Snow and The Land of Sweets, culminating in the finale where the Sugar Plum Fairy dances with the handsome Cavalier. “I started out as one of the Angels,” said Rourke in between rehearsals last week. “There were only four or five of us at the time. I have been Clara, party boys, Waltz of the Flowers ... Ballerina doll, Dew Drop Fairy ... Snow Queen and now the Sugar Plum Fairy.” For Davis, Rourke graduating to the Sugar Plum Fairy made her the next in a long line of dancers she has watched in a tu-tu from toddler to teen. Davis said that Katie gained a lot of confidence from a summer dance intensive she took at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center in upstate New York. “I think she thought she was way above her head,” said Davis, “but by the second week, she knew she was really getting it and she really did belong with all those other girls.”Ê Rourke was selected out of 350 dancers to take one of the 35 positions available to attend. Founded and staffed by current and former members of the American Ballet Theatre in New York City, Kaatsbaan, which is Dutch for “playing field,” was three weeks of anything but ‘playing.’ “It was a lot of work,” said Rourke, “but it was also a lot of one-on-one instruction in addition to all the group instruction.” Rourke is naturally a little nervous about being in the spotlight, but is handling it pretty well. “I’ve never really been too nervous before a show,” she said, “but we’ll see once we get into next week.” Her rehearsal schedule will step up as she meets, for the first time, Stephen Straub, who will dance the role of the Cavalier. Straub is currently dancing professionally with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company of New York. She will also be surrounded, however, by a group of dancers who she has grown up with and danced beside for much of the last 14 years. Brianne Wesolowski, 16 and a junior at Starr’s Mill High School, will perform as the Snow Queen.Ê She has also been dancing at Georgia Academy of Dance for the past 14 years.Ê Morgan Tuggle, a 16 year old junior at Starr’s Mill, has also been at GAD for 13 years. She will dance the part of the Shepherdess, while Mary Grace Phillips, who is 17 and a close friend of Rourke’s, will perform the part of the lead Spanish Dancer.ÊAshley Grayson, dancing the part of DewdropÊ Fairy, and a dancer at GAD for the past 13 years will be beside Katie as she performs her last Nutcracker Ballet with Georgia Dance Theatre.Ê Add to those the names of younger sisters Megan Rourke, 15 as the Soldier Doll, and Emily Rourke, 13, who will be in Snow, and the word family doesn’t just mean a close knit group of girls who have worked together for a number of years. “All of us are committed to the well being of these dancers and the true perception they receive of dance as an art,”Ê said Davis. “We have a very dedicated group of girls, and their parents, who really come together and make these productions happen. “Since the budget for one of our productions is between $18,000-$26,000, it takes a group of people, businesses and sponsors committed to presenting the quality these students deserve. We are proud to have that at Georgia Academy of Dance,” added Davis. So for this year’s Georgia Dance Theatre production of The Nutcracker, the most appropriate line from a Christmas carol might just be “and hearts will be glowing, when loved ones are near.” Georgia Dance Theatre in association with Georgia Academy of Dance presents The Nutcracker Ballet Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Charles Wadsworth Auditorium in Newnan. General admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased at Georgia Academy of Dance, 770-631-3128, or at the box office. |
