Shows feature 135 dancers
Published in the Nov. 26 – Dec. 9, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Dancers practice a ballet number during a rehearsal for the upcoming ‘Nutcracker’ shows produced by Lana’s Dance Studio.
For many families, the holiday season will get off to a sugarplum fairy start Dec. 7 and 8 at the Gavilan Community College Theater when performers from Lana’s Dance Studio showcase “The Nutcracker.”
The popular two-act ballet created features the magic of the Christmas season as a toy soldier comes to life and takes a young girl named Clara on adventures where they meet wonderful characters and battle a Mouse King.
Studio owner Lana Wright says she often hears from people who say they had a favorite tradition of going to “The Nutcracker” every holiday when they were youngsters, and now that they have children of their own, they enjoying taking them.
The performance will feature 135 dancers, with the youngest, 2, playing one of 30 “Little Cookies” roles.
“It pulls from our recreational group and our competitive group and then we have our hip-hop group and then we have outside people who dance at other studios as well. So it’s open to the community,” Wright said. “Anyone can audition, so long as they’re in a dance class.”
The show is a traditional Nutcracker but revamped to be “a little lighter and add more humor,” she said.
A matinee show and an evening show will be held Sunday and an evening show will be held Monday to allow the dancers to perform in the Holiday Parade in downtown Dec. 6.
“People asked how is this going to work, but it’s been awesome because our dancers can do the parade,” Wright said. “We didn’t want to bow out of the parade because that’s a tradition. So we came up with the idea that we can do it Sunday and Monday. The parents said, ‘Oh that’s perfect. We can go to the Christmas parade and we can do our Christmas party and go to the Nutcracker and have it all.’ The whole family goes to see the show. It starts the whole holiday season off for them.”
