my nutcracker experience

see the mice in the background?  that's me!

Today we are going back to my dancing days at the old SUNY Purchase (I like to pronounce it sunny per-chaise).  Growing up, I was never in a real, true performance of the Nutcracker because it was always ballet focused.  I was more jazz and modern dance.  However, to my (somewhat unfortunate) surprise, I made it into a production during the ripe old age of eighteen.


Although I took ballet each and every day during my year at dance college, I was there for modern dance (that was my major) and because there were more modern dancers than ballet dancers (who were these people kidding - ballet dancers careers begin at 14 and end by 18), the roles of mice (Act I) and Arabian Coffee performers (Act II) were turned into modern dance pieces.

Although I auditioned for the Arabian role and made it to the end of the auditions, I was not one of the six chosen dancers to play this role.  Instead, I was chosen to be one of the twelve mice.  I know this sounds less than ideal (and if you could see the actual mice costumes we had to wear you would completely understand how less than ideal it was), but with the Modern Dance Conservatory having over 100 students, getting one of these eighteen parts was kind of a big deal.  

definitely a man in this one!

The mice appear onstage as the clock strikes.  I think I came out at number four, if my memory serves me correctly.  If I could have chosen any role in the production, I would have opted for the Sugar Plum Fairy (SPF - not to be confused with sunscreen).  I love the SPF.  I also love the Russian Candy Cane performers, but I have yet to see a production that casts females for the role AND I am not sure my thighs could take all that squatting.  Those moves are not easy! 

I will end this post by sharing a fun fact with you; the role of Mother Ginger (Act II) is normally played by a man because the costume is enormous and ballet dancers are frail and weak.  That is another favorite part of mine - when the children all emerge from under her gigantic skirt and dance.