Pacific Northwest Ballet School students in the Kent Stowell/Maurice Sendak "Nutcracker." The show runs November 27 – December 30, 2009. Photo © Angela Sterling.

'Nutcracker' Kids

Marcie Sillman
11/27/2009

It's official. Thanksgiving's over, the holiday season is here. That means gifts to buy, cookies to bake, and holiday rituals to observe. For thousands of people, those rituals include an annual visit to Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker." Hundreds of ballet students audition for the chance to perform onstage in the holiday classic.

Every ballet student dreams of dancing in "The Nutcracker."

The eight and nine–year–old kids who audition today are vying to be cast as mice, holiday guests or toy soldiers. There aren't enough parts for everyone, so Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal will scrutinize everything from a child's size, to her technical ability, to what Boal calls the elusive spark of stage presence.

Boal: "We're looking for accuracy, but yes, stage presence. We tell them to smile, give them a speech."

The door opens, and about 80 young children parade, single file, into the large rehearsal studio.

The girls are dressed in pink or blue leotards, depending on whether they are level one or level two students. The ten boys wear white T–shirts and black tights. Each child has a number pinned to her chest. The kids line up, facing Peter Boal and his three ballet masters.

Boal: "My advice to you: be as clear as possible and look at me. I want to see stage presence; life in the steps we give you."

With that, Boal turns over the audition to Ballet Master Otto Neubert, a tall man with a square jaw and a stern expression. The children watch Neubert demonstrate the little skipping step he wants them to perform. It's their turn.

A pianist starts to play, and, one by one, the young dancers skip in a diagonal line across the floor, toward Ballet Master Paul Gibson. From his perch on a tall stool, Gibson silently reminds each child to smile, tilt up a chin, or keep the beat of the music.

Eventually, with a slight nod to the pianist, Peter Boal stops the music. He and Ballet Master Ann Dabrowski consult the legal pads that sit on the table in front of them.

Boal asks the blue clad dancers, the Level Two students, to sit down. The eight–year–olds, 35 of them, remain standing.

Boal: "Just the [level] ones will skip one more time."

And they do.

After a whispered consultation with Dabrowski, Peter Boal looks up at the assembled kids.

Boal: "Okay, we got what we need. You'll hear by Friday this week. We'll post something. Thank you all for a good job."

For close to an hour, these 75 young kids have been attentive and quiet. Suddenly, the disciplined lines of children erupt in chatter, like a school room dismissed for recess.

As she waits her turn to file out of the dance studio, eight–year–old Tamaya giggles with her friends.

Tamaya: "Kinda fun. We did it last year. I mean, I was only in the Nutcracker once. I liked it very much. I had a friend she was a girl baby mouse. I was a boy mouse. I loved it."

Ballet Master Otto Neubert shoos the girls out of the studio.

Neubert: "Let's go."

Fifty more children are waiting just outside the doors. It's their turn to show the professionals why they should get picked to dance in the "Nutcracker."

I'm Marcie Sillman, KUOW News.

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