December 24, 2014
Pulling back the curtain Veteran dancer reveals the joys and challenges of performing in “The Nutcracker”
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By Sara Hardin St. Louis plays host to many wonderful holiday traditions but one in particular draws families from all over the area to the Touhill Performing Arts Center to witness the Saint Louis Ballet perform “The Nutcracker Ballet,” a long-running annual spectacle that can get even the toughest Scrooge into the Christmas spirit. Vanessa Woods, member of Saint Louis Ballet and dancer in this year’s production of “The Nutcracker,” is dancing her fourth season with the company after being flown from New York to dance as a guest in “Swan Lake” in March of 2010. Woods, who has been dancing ballet for 22 years, spoke about her experience in dancing “The Nutcracker” throughout her career. “’The Nutcracker’ is one of those ballets that dancers usually start when they’re very young, so I was in ‘The Nutcracker’ from about age 9 and up,” said Woods. “It’s something that you just continuously work on as you progress in your career. It’s one of those ballets that you can really count on all across the country; everyone does ‘The Nutcracker.’ This is my fourth with Saint Louis Ballet.” Woods said that every production of “The Nutcracker” since her participation with Saint Louis Ballet has been hosted at the Touhill, which has been home to the ballet since the 2008-2009 season. “We kind of lovingly call it our home,” Woods spoke of the Touhill. “When all the dancers come here it really does feel like a place where everyone feels really comfortable.” Kimberly Klearman, Production Manager at the Touhill, spoke about the continued success of the production. “’The Nutcracker’ is the highlight of many families’ holiday seasons; Saint Louis Ballet does a particularly beautiful production of it,” said Klearman. “The public loves it and many patrons come again and again!” For such a big production, both the dancers and the venue get started months in advance to make sure everything is seamless by the time the curtain goes up for the first show. “The dancers have been rehearsing for weeks, and the show gets booked over a year in advance,” Klearman explained. “The technical team starts talking about it a few months before they come in, and we get to the real nitty-gritty preparation work about a month out. All of this
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Photo courtesy Zyg Mulnik Vanessa Woods, member of Saint Louis Ballet and dancer in this year’s production of “The Nutcracker,” is dancing her fourth season with the company and performs here as the Snow Queen.
is done so once they take the stage, the production moves like clockwork; they start hanging drops on a Monday morning and have their first show Thursday night.” This year, you can spot Woods dancing one out of three different roles, depending on the show you attend. The production consists of three different casts that rotate throughout the duration of the production dates. “We have three casts: A, B and C, so we’re constantly rotating,” explained Woods. “I’m going to be dancing the Snow Queen in the B cast, in the A cast I’ll be dancing the newly revamped Spanish pas de deux, and then in cast C I’ll be dancing the Arabian pas de deux. See PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN page 2
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