Abby Jones and Mia Bowers are shown in a rehearsal scene of “The Nutcracker.”
Photo by Tami Mohs
Abby Jones seems made for the dream sequences of the classic “The Nutcracker,” when the Rat King threatens to slice right through the Christmas spirit with his swordplay.
Jones plays an older Clara, who falls asleep under the tree on Christmas Eve. Her nighttime reverie includes a nutcracker springing to life to royally save the day.
“It’s kind of like, well — it just kind of doesn’t feel real,” Jones said of those scenes and others in Dancers Studio Inc.’s presentation of the classic Tchaikovsky holiday ballet to be performed Dec. 2-3 at Judson Erne Auditorium. “But, when we get to the end of the finale, I’m like, OK, we have to wake up now.”
Pretty perfect perspective for a Clara filled with wide-eyed wonder while snoozing or awake.
This will be the first such shows in 21 years to feature live music, this time provided by the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. The Columbus Symphony Orchestra provided accompaniment in 2002.
“I think that this is just a really magical and special show,” said the 17-year-old Jones, in her 14th Nutcracker.
Lauren Haza, the studio’s artistic director, is directing. And apparently, the magic to which Jones referred is leaping its way from the stage already.
Isaac Selya, the philharmonic’s music director, caught a recent Dancers Studio Inc. rehearsal. Suffice it to say that he thought he might have been, like Jones, in something of a dream, calling the cast “incredibly prepared.”
“It was so good and so moving,” Selya said. “I was there to take notes on tempo, musical transitions and such. But I really had to work to keep it emotionally together.
“It was so powerful that I was on the verge of tears.”
But there always is plenty to elicit smiles in a production of more than 130 people. There is the Christmas tree that grows to gargantuan proportions in seconds onstage. Plus Susannah Lipinski’s glittery, professional-caliber costuming that nearly steals the spotlight from the dancers.
And a collection of pint-sized children as excitable mice who gleefully scamper right into attendees’ hearts.
“I tell people to expect the unexpected,” Jones said.
Professional dancers from metro troupes in places such as Indianapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, have learned to do just that for this annual show. Each year, some of those artists fill a few cast roles. And they frequently have commented afterward on the show’s professionalism and polish. In fact, the Indianapolis Ballet member portraying the Sugar Plum this year is Dancers Studio Inc. alumnus Jacqueline Hodek.
Haza, a former Dancers Studio performer herself, understands such excellence. She looks at dancers such as Jones and Victor Minut, playing the role of the Snow King, and is impressed.
“Victor is probably the overall best male dancer we’ve had in the studio (in years),” she said, while also offering plaudits to recent former dancer Grant Jackson.
Minut wanted this role, because it requires partnering and for a few other reasons.
“The music (for this) has always been my favorite,” said Minut, in his third Nutcracker.
And the most challenging segment of the dancing for the 5-foot-7-inch, 130-pound Minut?
“The (partner) lifts,” he said of the athletic maneuvers. “Just learning to properly lift a girl above my head.”
He mentioned that he learned a few extra partnering tools during a two-week summer intensive in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier in the year. And he figures that, by the time the studio and the Philharmonic’s second show is complete come Dec. 3, he’ll experience a lift of another kind.
“I expect,” he said, “that will feel pretty accomplished.”
About the shows
Who: Dancers Studio Inc. and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic presenting Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 2 and 2 p.m. Dec. 3.
Where: Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St. in Columbus.
Tickets: thecip.org
