Bluegrass Youth Ballet is a local dance studio just down the road from Lafayette. Every winter, they perform The Nutcracker in One Act, a shortened version of the original two-hour ballet. This show will be performed at the Lexington Singletary Center for three shows. One school show on December 19th at 10:00 am, and two public shows on December 20th at 7:00 am and December 21st at 2:00 pm. The prices can range from $23 to $29 depending on the seat.
The Nutcracker starts with a family on Christmas, opening presents, mainly the Nutcracker, and entertaining themselves. After they finish opening presents, the main character, Clara, goes off to bed. She then starts dreaming, which involves a battle between a rat queen and the Nutcracker. Once the battle is over, they enter a snowy forest where the snow queen and her flurries, icicles, and other cold things welcome Clara and Nutcracker. They are then welcomed into the land of the sweets and dance with all the different parts of the land of the sweets. In the finale, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum tell Clara that she is dreaming and send her back off to sleep.
The studio’s founder, Adahli Aranda, has been running Bluegrass Youth Ballet for over 20 years. It started as a small school and has grown to over 300 students. Bluegrass Youth Ballet is filled with teachers who support and care for each one of their students. The teachers who support the dancers are Chuck Bronson, Gretchen Gunther, Adahli Aranda, Billie Jean Kandravi, Nancy Dominquez, Elvira Dale, Jeana Klevene, and Brianna Mullins. The teachers teach all different levels in the studio except Mullins who assists with adult classes and younger children.
The youngest level, Pre-Ballet B, performs as fireflies in this piece. The oldest level, pre-pro, can perform in multiple lead roles and can be cast as part of the core. The core in ballet is the group of people that support the lead. They dance behind the lead and play a supporting role in the performance. Most younger dances are cast as part of the core unless they perform as Clara or Columbine dolls.
Lafayette student, Julia Voskuhl, dances at Bluegrass Youth Ballet. She has performed in Nutcracker for eight years and joined Bluegrass Youth Ballet at three. Her favorite role so far is little dolls. When asked how Nutcracker has affected her life, she said, “When I was a kid, watching the older dancers inspired me.” This inspiration has helped Voskuhl to keep moving through the levels and continue dancing to try and get some of the roles she was so fond of as a little girl.
These shows are a great opportunity for kids to come and experience ballet, considering that it is a shortened version of the original Nutcracker. It enables kids to experience the theater and dance all while having a shorter version for a child’s shortened attention spans.
