Studio West Dance Academy performed a beautiful and compelling rendition of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at the Washington Center, November 25th-28th. The story revolves around a young girl, Clara Stahlbaum, played by Natalie Bowers and Abigail Erickson, both sophomores at Oly.

The charming Christmas tale begins with a party at the Stahlbaum’s. In Studio West’s interpretation, the party contains many hilarious characters, including the magician, Herr Drosselmeyer, played by guest performer Aaron Ziegler. Ziegler’s performance had the audience laughing continuously throughout the show. During the party, Drosselmeyer gifts a toy nutcracker to Clara.

After the party, Clara falls asleep on the couch in the living room. When she awakes (or so she thinks), Clara finds herself in a heated battle with the rodents in the house. The Nutcracker toy is brought to life and duels the king of the rats to save Clara. After the rats are defeated, Clara and the Nutcracker return to the kingdom of sweets as heroes.

The second half contains numerous desserts accompanied by dances, such as Spanish chocolate, trepak, tea, coffee, and bonbons. Each dance is unique in technique and music as every region of the land of sweets performs for Clara.

The show concludes with the Sugar Plum fairy and Cavalier’s performance, possibly the most technically challenging part of the show. The fairy and cavalier perform both a partner dance and individual dances.

James Johnson, who played both the Nutcracker and the Sugar Plum Cavalier, has been dancing in the show for six years. Johnson stated that his favorite part of the role was dancing with a partner. The Nutcracker has helped Johnson “learn…about being a better person and dancer.”

After all the performances, Clara is transported back home, only to wake up and realize it was all a dream. The entire experience of The Nutcracker was certainly dreamlike for both the audience and the performers.
Kabella Graves, flower, lead party girl, and Chinese tea lead, and a freshman at Oly shared her favorite memory of “being backstage with friends and getting to spend time doing what [she] love[s].”

Watching her friends dance some of the lead parts was Nora Saylors’ favorite memory working on The Nutcracker this year. Nora is a freshman at Oly who danced as a Russian lead, Chinese tea lead, and flower corps. Saylors encourages everyone to attend Studio West’s next performance of Alice in Wonderland in March.