PERFORMING ARTS: Young ballerinas of ‘The Nutcracker’ grow in leaps and bounds

By Leslie Church, Contributor

To the audience, there is just one Clara in “The Nutcracker.” One little girl who enters a magical world on Christmas Eve. But in this year’s performance by the Greater Niagara Ballet Company, there are actually quite a few Claras up on stage.

The lead candy cane dancer was Clara a few years ago. So was the Arabian princess who’ll be dancing in this weekend’s 32nd annual production.

In the hierarchy of tutus and pointe shoes, the girls spend each year wearing down the fabric of their ballet shoes trying to make it to the top.

The little ones want to be Clara, the Claras wish for lead snowflake or Harlequin.

“When you’re younger, your main goal is to become Clara, that’s like the role, the huge soloist role of the younger group,” said Alexa Luczak, a Nardin Academy student from Lewiston. “Once you get past Clara you’re like, OK well now I want to work towards something else, so you slowly work up towards the solos.”

Luczak, a former Clara, danced her way into one of the prized solo roles this year: Arabian princess. So what’s next?

“Everyone’s dream is to be Sugar Plum Fairy, obviously,” Luczak said.

This year’s star — the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen — is Tonya Milne, a professional dancer from outside of Toronto. She’s been in productions of “The Nutcracker” all throughout her dancing life, since she was nine. Her first role, naturally, was as Clara.

Milne’s favorite scene is in the second act where the Sugar Plum Fairy takes Clara to the Kingdom of Sweets.

“It’s all magical and make believe and it just brings out the kid inside you,” she said.

With her rosy cheeks and warm smile, she’s a picture-perfect fairy. The students in the ballet company sit wide-eyed on the floor of the studio while they watch her rehearse in her sparkly pink tutu that sticks out from her waist like a free-floating hula hoop.

Beverley Feder, the director and founder of the company, said it’s important to bring in professional dancers for its lead roles. Not only do they give the audience more to ooh and ahh at, but the younger girls have someone to model their pirouettes after.

“It’s a great experience because you can rehearse with the children who are wanting to see what it’s like to be at a professional level,” Milne said.

Michelle Montana, a Mt. St. Mary Academy student from Youngstown, is most excited about her part in the candy cane scene this year. She studies the moves of Milne and her partner — Irek Muchalski, the nutcracker — to perfect her own.

“You really learn a lot from them, watching them, their facial expressions,” she said. “You look up to them.”

Feder brings in different professionals each year to give her ballerinas — many of whom have been performing in ‘The Nutcracker’ the majority of their young lives — a new dancer to learn from.

“It’s something they can take away with them that they will remember for the rest of their lives,” she said. “It’s such an experience for them.”

The girls’ experience and that of the audience depends on contributions from the community. The ballet company is a non-profit that survives on donations and federal grants. ‘The Nutcracker’ alone costs $40,000 to produce.

Feder said that between bringing in the professional dancers, advertising for the show, and getting costumes and props, the costs add up quickly. The current economy hasn’t made it any easier, but Feder believes in the power of the performance.

“The arts always survive. It’s been difficult this year, but it’s difficult every year,” she said.

What keeps Feder rising to the challenge each winter is watching her students grow up next to the ballet barre where they perfect their plies and make their way from Clara to princess to maybe even Sugar Plum Fairy, someday.

“To me that’s the excitement that I see in ‘The Nutcracker.’ It’s being able to see them transform from little girls into dancers,” she said.

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