Syracuse Ballet stages its annual ‘Nutcracker’ production
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CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, it was stated that this year was Syracuse Ballet’s 15th year performing “The Nutcracker.” Sources were only able to confirm that this is Syracuse Ballet’s 25th season. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
Swells of harmonious violins play in unison as the lights rise at the Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater. The show hasn’t started yet but just the overture is enough for the audience to be transported to a Christmas party in Germany. Soon they’ll be watching Clara dance with her nutcracker and be transported to the mystical Land of the Sweets. The Syracuse Ballet Company is about to perform their annual production of “The Nutcracker,” a worldwide holiday tradition.
“My husband always says that you can always (tell) when it’s Nutcracker season — it’s long weeks and long rehearsals, but it’s all really worth it when it comes together,” said Claire Solis, who dances the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in the Syracuse Ballet’s production.
This past weekend, the Syracuse Ballet Company performed its annual production of the Tchaikovsky ballet at the Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater, holding true to the nostalgia of the traditional production while also reimagining its dramatic vision. This year’s production is the first full-scale ballet since the beginning of the pandemic.
For a production this scale, the magic doesn’t happen overnight, Sheridan said. Even though the Syracuse Ballet has been active for 25 years, this large of a production demands rigorous, meticulous rehearsal to perfect each detail because of the precise style of ballet, Sheridan said.
Every year, the process begins with Sheridan listening to Tchaikovsky’s score and envisioning how she wants to choreograph the ballet. Using the score as a compass, Sheridan said she allows the nuanced melodies to guide the storytelling she will convey through her dancers. The rehearsal process begins a whole two months before the curtain rises on opening night.
“We normally rehearse it piece by piece, one number at a time. We’ll do the Waltz of the Flowers one day, the Pas de Deux another, (we do it) all separately,” Sheridan said. “Then, maybe two weeks before the show, we bring it all together. And that’s usually pretty chaotic and fun.”
Though this rehearsal process is strenuous, Sheridan emphasized how important it is, both for the production quality and for the cast to bond as a team. When the cast becomes a family, Sheridan said that a ballet can go from good to great, since ballet is inherently collaborative and requires trust.
“We have a week of theater rehearsals where we’re here basically from 3:30 to 9 at night everyday,” Sheridan said. “We all get really close that way, we spend a lot of time together.”
As a seasoned “Nutcracker” veteran, this hectic schedule is the norm for Solis. Like many of the company’s dancers, she plays several roles in the ballet, which she explained is customary for “The Nutcracker,” to allow several cast members the chance to share their talent with an audience.
“We have lots of talented dancers, who all are strong enough to carry the show,” Solis said. “Some of us stay the same, but we like to give people the opportunity to be on stage and give the character their own perspective.”
The Syracuse Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” also hosts open-call auditions to youth dancers in order to give them the opportunity to dance alongside professionals.
During last year’s production, coronavirus restrictions were still in place, and the production was only able to cast 30 children who had to be over the age of 12 and vaccinated, said Elizabeth Naughton, the executive director of the Syracuse Ballet.
This year, “The Nutcracker’s” creative team loosened these restrictions and cast around 80 youth dancers to be in the show. One youth actor, Daniel Reyes, who plays a soldier, is taking the stage alongside his twin brother Benjamin and described his experience as “awesome.”
“The hardest part about doing it is probably doing the cartwheels. You have to know when to do them (cartwheels) and how to go offstage,” Reyes said. “We need a little bit of help, but that’s okay. Because when the big show comes, I know we can do it.”
For most professional ballet companies, a holiday production of “The Nutcracker” is an annual tradition, Solis said. Even though the plotline and music are constants in all of these productions, each company and city finds their own unique perspective to offer their audiences a fresh take on the classic tradition, she said.
“Nutcracker is something that happens every year, but it’s so different, and so many people grow in so many different ways, as dancers, as people,” Solis said. “You know, there’s a little girl here that started as Clara and one day she might be the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker.”
For many, going to see a production of “The Nutcracker” could be their very first time being exposed to ballet, or even live dance at all, Solis said. She said she approaches every single production of the Nutcracker with a sense of duty and responsibility to represent her craft and inspire the next generation of ballet dancers.
“It can be life changing for people,” Solis said. “It’s this big responsibility we have as dancers, to give them the best show that they can see and to have their introduction to ballet be as important as it is to us.”
