This year may be the Southwest Washington Dance Ensemble’s 27th performing “The Nutcracker,” but the dancers, choreographer and costumers have found ways to keep the classic holiday ballet fresh for returning audiences.
“We have a couple new surprises this year,” said Southwest Washington Dance Center Artistic Director Brianna Jones, who choreographed and directed this year’s “Nutcracker.”
Among the changes to this year’s production is a completely revised rendition of “Chinese Dance,” with new costumes, props and choreography.
“Something that I realized is that our studio, it keeps growing every year. I’ve had to create more parts every year,” Jones said. “So, I’m excited because we have on this stage multiple levels of dancers in that piece, which we haven't done all too much before.”
Over 120 dancers, ranging in age from 5 to 65, from across Lewis County and South Thurston County are involved in this year’s “Nutcracker.”
Rehearsals for the advanced-level dancers began back in August to give them time to learn increasingly complicated choreography.
“I’m just consistently having to challenge them, and so we’re making the choreography harder,” Jones said.
This year, the Dance Ensemble had enough advanced-level male dancers have three separate pas de deux dance duets: the Snow Queen (Hannah Feaster and Anna Hoinowski) and Snow King (Tanner Calder), the Sugar Plum Fairy (Eva Reynolds and Hannah Feaster) and the Cavalier (Gideon Newkirk), and the female Mirliton (Ivy Nelson and Kate Mordick) and male Mirliton (Charles Lawson).
“We’ve done that before, but it’s been a little while since we’ve had that many,” Jones said.
On the beginner-level side of the production, the dancer portraying the titular Nutcracker, Charles Lawson, had only been dancing for a year before he was cast in this year’s production.
“He’d only been doing it for a year but he loved it and so he dove head first into it. He’s been training a lot,” Jones said.
Local performers with lead roles are
• Julia King and Amanda Brossard as Heir Drosselmeier
• Mark and Sandra Young, Stacy Jones and Warren Hall as Mr. and Mrs. Staulbaum
• Matthew March as Mother Ginger and the Rat King
• Kate Mordick and Elizabeth Osborne as Clara
Dancing principal roles are: Eva Reynolds, Hannah Feaster, Tanner Calder, Eva Reynolds, Amanda Brossard, Gideon Newkirk, Austyn Laufenberg and Anna Hoinowski.
A full cast list is available online at https://www.swwdance.org/performances.
“The Nutcracker” runs at the Corbet Theater at Centralia College from Dec. 19 to Dec. 22.
Performance times are 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 21 and 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 22.
Dec. 19’s show is a pay-what-you-can performance, with tickets only available for purchase at the door starting at 6 p.m. the night of the performance.
Standard ticket prices are $27 for adults, $20 for seniors over the age of 62, children under 18 and military members, and $20 for a livestream of the Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 shows.
Tickets are available online at swwdance.org or by stopping by or calling the Southwest Washington Dance Center at 360-748-4789. The dance center is located at 437 N. Market Blvd. in Chehalis.
After Dec. 14, tickets will only be available online, at the box office of Corbet Theatre on the campus of Centralia College from the hours of 3 to 7 p.m. or by telephone.
All seating is reserved.
“This event is a major source of income for Southwest Washington Dance Center. As a 501 (C) 3 non-profit organization, they depend upon grants and fundraisers to help meet their budget,” the Southwest Washington Dance Center said in a news release.
This year so far, the Southwest Washington Dance Center has received major sponsorships for Nutcracker from Advocate Printing, Butler Surveying, McGregor Auto & Muffler, Jones Automotive Corp., Vander Stoep, Blinks and Unzelman, Scheibmeir, Kelly & Nelson P.S., John L. Scott Real Estate, New Directions Counseling, Greg and Colleen Jones, Dynamic Collectors, Inc., Security State Bank, The Chronicle, KITI/Live 95, Allen and Brittany Unzelman, the Muir Family and Totally Pawsome.
The Southwest Washington Dance Ensemble was also recently the grand marshal of the 74th Annual Santa Parade in Chehalis, which is put on by the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.
For information regarding “The Nutcracker,” visit the Southwest Washington Dance Center’s website at www.swwdance.org or call 360-748-4789.
