T here’s something magical about the first snowfall. The soft, white blanket coating the ground, the ever so quiet tinkling of snowflakes as they land on your face. It’s a moment in time where everything else manages to stand still, a moment when you can close your eyes and dream.
This is the world that welcomes Clara to the land of sweets in the Nutcracker, as dancing snowflakes leap lightly across stage, their pointe shoes emphasizing the sound of the falling snow. Her dream carries her into a world of hot chocolate, candy canes and of course sugarplums. Who would ever want to wake up?
The Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet and the Atlantic Coast Ballet will treat Vineyarders to this dream world for the annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker this weekend. Performances are Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
“I love the idea of this little girl having a dream that comes true,” Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet artistic director Beth Vages said in between rehearsals earlier this week. “To me that’s the most magical thing.”
The two schools have jointly performed the ballet for 13 years on the Vineyard, an opportunity for Island children and professional ballerinas to participate in a main stage production. Ms. Vages founded the Cape Cod School of Ballet (now the Atlantic Coast Ballet) and sold it four years ago to friends.
“I basically came here to retire and ended up not retiring, and I don’t think I could let go of The Nutcracker, it’s a part of me,” Ms. Vages said. “It’s like my kids, it’s my children. You just can’t let it go.”
The 1892 ballet tells the story of Clara on Christmas Eve, wandering into a world of marzipan, a mouse king, toy soldiers and a prince charming to save the day. The ballet is performed all over the world now, with rock and roll variations; it is a holiday tradition many clutch to their hearts.
Brother and sister Megan and Ethan Mendez will play Clara and her tormenting brother, Fritz; Grace Hall also will play Clara.
On Tuesday afternoon, the toy wooden guns were stacked on stage, tutus in garment bags lay in the front row, and the Nutcracker himself peeked out of a mother’s purse.
A group of four and five-year-olds were so excited to be on stage they could not stand still, running and leaping around until Ms. Vages called them to order. They were to rehearse the gingerbread scene.
“We’re going to pretend,” Ms. Vages said setting up two chairs and a board to act as the large skirt Jeff Enos will wear when he sways back and forth in the oversized costume as Mother Ginger. The girls squatted down with their hands on their knees and began to shift as a group to the left, step together, step together.
“In the skirt, in the skirt! Skip, honey!” encouraged Ms. Vages.
“Do you know who this is?” she asked the girls, pointing to Mr. Enos. “Mother Ginger!” the girls squealed.
“I don’t have any lipstick on today,” the fully bearded and tattooed Mr. Enos said to the girls. He marked his movements along with the music. “We only have one chance to get on stage properly If I fall down, get out from under the skirt and keep going, just follow the music.”
Walking in stilts and an oversized skirt is always risky.
“Five, six, seven, eight kisses,” Ms. Vages said counting out the music. She was making sure the girls nailed their star jumps and kisses just right and playing hand-games with each other didn’t lead to an accidental slap in the face.
“The way we train kids, because it is a classical ballet school, they’re used to having a very long time at the ballet barre and learning to focus when it comes time to dancing,” Ms. Vages said. They have been rehearsing for the past three weeks. “It just goes right over when we’re on stage.”
As the gingerbread munchkins finished their time on stage, the next age group came rolling down the aisles. Moms were quick to secure buns in place, sew on last minute ribbons to ballet shoes and made sure their daughters were ready to play their angel part.
“Who put this in your hair, it’s a total mess,” said one mother. “Why don’t you have a bun?” asked another.
Sixth grader Sarah Pertile was breaking in a freshly-dyed pair of black pointe shoes, careful not to rip them on the still-rough floor of the stage. She gathered the younger angels on stage and gracefully moved on pointe around them as they turned on their tiptoes, hands pressed together as though in prayer. The smaller gingerbread girls sat in the audience and watched in awe as Sarah leapt across stage.
“Just pretend,” Ms. Vages told Sarah, as the Sugar Plum Fairy was not at rehearsal. She swooped in and out of the kneeling angels in place of the fairy.
Everyone has a favorite moment in the ballet; for some of the gingerbread girls it is the toy soldiers, for others the waltz of the flowers. For Ms. Vages it’s the growing Christmas tree that makes you hold your breath as it becomes larger than life, and the smiles the Nutcracker can bring to anyone’s face.
The Nutcracker is Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard High School Performing Arts Center. General admission is $15, preferred center seating is $25, and family tickets are $50. Tickets are available at Bunch of Grapes, Our Market, Alley’s General Store, Aboveground Records and at the door.
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