Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without The Nutcracker. At least that’s the case for Camilla Curran, co-director of Tennessee Ballet Theater’s (TBT) Clara & the Nutcracker. “It’s just a sweet story,” she says. “It’s very imaginative, and it makes the holiday that much more festive. So we do it every year.”
As a professional, Curran played the Sugar Plum Fairy, and her co-director and founder of TBT, Mary Van Dyke, did as well. Yet in TBT’s production this year, the role will not be played by a professional, but by a senior in high school, a student at TBT’s Children’s Ballet Theater. Clara, too, will be performed by a teenager. “One of the things that makes us unique is that we have students in some of the lead roles,” Curran says. “Our students are strong enough to take on those big roles.”
In total, 113 Children’s Ballet Theater students will perform alongside professional dancers from TBT.
While audiences can expect a traditional Tchaikovsky Nutcracker production as far as storytelling goes, this year’s production will add a divertissement, called “Neapolitan,” to the sequence of dances celebrating the Land of Sweets in Act II. “It’s not typically done in The Nutcracker, but we wanted to add one,” Curran says. “It’s music from Swan Lake, so it’s in the Tchaikovsky family. He composed Swan Lake as well. So we added that, and we jazzed up our Arabian a little bit with some cool tricks. … There are little additions and tweaks every year.”
During intermission for the 90-minute show, audience members can shop the Sugar Plum Ornaments Sale, which will sell, among other stocking-stuffers, hand-decorated pointe shoes, many made by the dancers. Proceeds from the market will raise funds for TBT’s Frayser Dance Project, which offers free dance classes in the Frayser community for young students. After the show, guests can stick around for photos with Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Purchase tickets at childrensballettheater.com. Stay tuned for TBT’s spring performance, which will explore a piece of Memphis history through dance.
Clara & the Nutcracker, University of Memphis Michael D. Rose Theatre, 470 University Drive, Saturday, December 6, 5:30 p.m. | Sunday, December 7, 2 p.m., $35-65.