Dancing Across Borders - Trailer
Nutcracker' taps foreign, ethnic, community resources
EVANSVILLE — The global reach of this year's "Nutcracker" is pronouncedly evident during a break in rehearsals at Evansville Dance Theatre.
Everyone speaks English, but the accents exchanged among three guest principals come from Cambodia, Japan and Middle America.
Sokvannara "Sy" (pronounced "See") Sar, the Cambodian dancer featured in the recent documentary film "Dancing Across Borders," talks about his featured role of the Cavalier in this production, soloing and partnering with Allyson Ashley, a Kansas City, Mo., native, cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
"This is my first time doing this role," said Sar, "but I think I've done every other role in 'Nutcracker.'"
So has she, said Ashley, "including all the children's parts."
From the start, of course, she longed to dance the role of Clara, the girl whose magical adventures with the nutcracker prince the ballet revolves around, but she never got to.
"Doing the Sugar Plum is a bit of a last laugh," she said.
Aoi (pronounce "Owie") Anraku, the Japanese dancer featured in the Russian variation and as one of the mechanical dolls in the opening party scene, also has danced lots of "Nutcracker" parts before getting a featured role.
"I think my first was as a rat," he said.
Sar, Ashley and Anraku are among eight guest dancers whom Lisa Dillinger has brought to Evansville to fill featured parts in her first "Nutcracker" as Dance Theatre's director.
Dillinger worked with Sar when he was a student and later an apprentice with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
After a season dancing with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington, D.C., Sar now lives in New York, the city he moved to in 2000 after philanthropist and dance enthusiast Anne Bass brought the traditional Cambodian dancer to study at the School of American Ballet.
Ashley began ballet studies with Dillinger in Kansas City, when she was just 8 years old. She also studied at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem. Ashley now works as an independent artist out of Raleigh, N.C.
Dillinger first met Anraku, a native of Hiroshima, Japan, when he and her daughter, Sarah (who also will dance in this production) studied at the San Francisco Ballet. Anraku has gone on to dance with the Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina, and with Susan Farrell Ballet, where he met Sar.
Just as she's reached across the country to put Asians and an African-American in principal dance roles, Dillinger has enlisted scores of students from the Signature School and other area dance schools and recruited high-profile members of the community to fill out the ranks of her "Nutcracker" performances.
County Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke will play Drosselmeyer, the mysterious visitor whose enchanted gift of a nutcracker launches the little girl Clara's dreamlike journey from her family's home into a world of fairies, princes and dancing flowers and snowflakes.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams will play a police officer in a street scene, and WIKY radio hosts Dennis Jon Bailey and Diane Douglas will portray an elderly couple in the opening party scene. And Jack Schriber will return as Mother Ginger, the enormous figure hiding a legion of little dancers under her tentlike hoop skirts.
This "Nutcracker" is a key production in Evansville Dance Theatre's efforts to rebuild under a new director and a new board, after a year of changing leadership that saw two former directors take students with them when they launched their own dance schools (both now in the same building as Dance Theatre's).
Only about 20 of the more than performers in this production come from Dance Theatre's own school, which has about 50 students taking class in the studio, another 30 in sessions at Evansville's Boys and Girls Club, and several more in a school outreach program, said Dillinger.
She expects those numbers to pick up after audiences see this "Nutcracker," she said. In many cases, "seeing 'The Nutcracker' is what makes a kid want to dance," Dillinger explained.
The Christmas ballet also is the biggest moneymaker of the year for most ballet schools in the United States, where "Nutcracker" has become a holiday tradition.
Dillinger counts on this production to bring in revenues from ticket sales and more student tuition to help balance the school's $179,000 budget for 2010-2011.
This "Nutcracker," budgeted at $56,000, already is in the black, thanks to advance ticket sales and some $40,000 in local underwriting from businesses and individuals, said Carol McClintock, a Dance Theatre board member helping with the effort.
That doesn't include another $30,000 in in-kind donations, ranging from food and accommodations for guest artists to free billboard, print, radio and television media advertising, said McClintock.
She sees this production, with its broad community representation and its racial and ethnic diversity, as a grand invitation to join the dance.
"I see this as a great opportunity for people to get involved in dance who never have before. It's a great art form. It helps build confidence in kids, and really helps them later in life in a way other art forms cannot."
IF YOU GO
What: Evansville Dance Theatre presents “The Nutcracker” with guest artists and live music by the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Evansville Children’s Choir.
When: 2 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: The Victory
Admission: $24.50 to $44.50 for adults, $14.50 for students, available through the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra online at www.evansvillephilharmonic.org, by phone at (812) 425-5050 or at the door two hours before each performance.
Everyone speaks English, but the accents exchanged among three guest principals come from Cambodia, Japan and Middle America.
Sokvannara "Sy" (pronounced "See") Sar, the Cambodian dancer featured in the recent documentary film "Dancing Across Borders," talks about his featured role of the Cavalier in this production, soloing and partnering with Allyson Ashley, a Kansas City, Mo., native, cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
"This is my first time doing this role," said Sar, "but I think I've done every other role in 'Nutcracker.'"
So has she, said Ashley, "including all the children's parts."
From the start, of course, she longed to dance the role of Clara, the girl whose magical adventures with the nutcracker prince the ballet revolves around, but she never got to.
"Doing the Sugar Plum is a bit of a last laugh," she said.
Aoi (pronounce "Owie") Anraku, the Japanese dancer featured in the Russian variation and as one of the mechanical dolls in the opening party scene, also has danced lots of "Nutcracker" parts before getting a featured role.
"I think my first was as a rat," he said.
Sar, Ashley and Anraku are among eight guest dancers whom Lisa Dillinger has brought to Evansville to fill featured parts in her first "Nutcracker" as Dance Theatre's director.
Dillinger worked with Sar when he was a student and later an apprentice with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
After a season dancing with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington, D.C., Sar now lives in New York, the city he moved to in 2000 after philanthropist and dance enthusiast Anne Bass brought the traditional Cambodian dancer to study at the School of American Ballet.
Ashley began ballet studies with Dillinger in Kansas City, when she was just 8 years old. She also studied at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem. Ashley now works as an independent artist out of Raleigh, N.C.
Dillinger first met Anraku, a native of Hiroshima, Japan, when he and her daughter, Sarah (who also will dance in this production) studied at the San Francisco Ballet. Anraku has gone on to dance with the Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina, and with Susan Farrell Ballet, where he met Sar.
Just as she's reached across the country to put Asians and an African-American in principal dance roles, Dillinger has enlisted scores of students from the Signature School and other area dance schools and recruited high-profile members of the community to fill out the ranks of her "Nutcracker" performances.
County Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke will play Drosselmeyer, the mysterious visitor whose enchanted gift of a nutcracker launches the little girl Clara's dreamlike journey from her family's home into a world of fairies, princes and dancing flowers and snowflakes.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams will play a police officer in a street scene, and WIKY radio hosts Dennis Jon Bailey and Diane Douglas will portray an elderly couple in the opening party scene. And Jack Schriber will return as Mother Ginger, the enormous figure hiding a legion of little dancers under her tentlike hoop skirts.
This "Nutcracker" is a key production in Evansville Dance Theatre's efforts to rebuild under a new director and a new board, after a year of changing leadership that saw two former directors take students with them when they launched their own dance schools (both now in the same building as Dance Theatre's).
Only about 20 of the more than performers in this production come from Dance Theatre's own school, which has about 50 students taking class in the studio, another 30 in sessions at Evansville's Boys and Girls Club, and several more in a school outreach program, said Dillinger.
She expects those numbers to pick up after audiences see this "Nutcracker," she said. In many cases, "seeing 'The Nutcracker' is what makes a kid want to dance," Dillinger explained.
The Christmas ballet also is the biggest moneymaker of the year for most ballet schools in the United States, where "Nutcracker" has become a holiday tradition.
Dillinger counts on this production to bring in revenues from ticket sales and more student tuition to help balance the school's $179,000 budget for 2010-2011.
This "Nutcracker," budgeted at $56,000, already is in the black, thanks to advance ticket sales and some $40,000 in local underwriting from businesses and individuals, said Carol McClintock, a Dance Theatre board member helping with the effort.
That doesn't include another $30,000 in in-kind donations, ranging from food and accommodations for guest artists to free billboard, print, radio and television media advertising, said McClintock.
She sees this production, with its broad community representation and its racial and ethnic diversity, as a grand invitation to join the dance.
"I see this as a great opportunity for people to get involved in dance who never have before. It's a great art form. It helps build confidence in kids, and really helps them later in life in a way other art forms cannot."
IF YOU GO
What: Evansville Dance Theatre presents “The Nutcracker” with guest artists and live music by the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Evansville Children’s Choir.
When: 2 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: The Victory
Admission: $24.50 to $44.50 for adults, $14.50 for students, available through the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra online at www.evansvillephilharmonic.org, by phone at (812) 425-5050 or at the door two hours before each performance.
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