With the city of Orlando watching intently, three Trinity students will take to the stage of the Dr. Phillips Center to amaze audiences with a performance nearly four decades in the running. Alongside 190 fellow students of the Orlando Ballet School and 23 professional company members, 6th grader Elizabeth Boyette, 7th grader Myzel Hatchette and sophomore Anna Myers will perform in the annual Nutcracker ballet from Dec. 21-24. The cast will perform five complete shows for regular audiences but will also abbreviate multiple performances to cater to attending school groups during the weekdays.
The audition and rehearsal process has been rigorous and unrelenting for the student dancers. Boyette has been dancing for three years and has just joined Orlando Ballet. She is dancing the part of an angel along with other girls of her level that were chosen for the part.
“[During auditions] they take you by level and have you try a small part of the different dances,” Boyette said. “Two weeks ago was the first time we started performing with other dancers in our scene.”
Performing with Boyette is Myers, dancing as an archangel and an attendee of Clara’s Christmas party. Myers has been dancing for 14 years, but “The Nutcracker” is the first full length ballet production she has had the opportunity in which she can participate. With that opportunity comes a big time commitment to learning the choreography and perfecting the dances with other students and members of the company. Myers not only spends most of her week dancing regularly, but she also rehearses “The Nutcracker” on the weekends.
“We rehearse every Saturday,” Myers said. “I’m there from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, but we are going to start adding Fridays as well.”
In addition to the challenges dancers face in regular rehearsals, they will have the added stress of performing with the professional company in front of the Artistic Director and the Director of the Orlando Ballet school. Myers believes that this is much more menacing than the prospect of performing at the Dr. Phillips Center.
“I think rehearsals are a lot more nerve wracking,” Myers said. “I’m new, so I’m not used to their rehearsal process, and you could have a director watching three feet in front of you at any time. It’s kind of intimidating.”
Hatchette has been dancing with Orlando Ballet since he was five years old. This year, he is taking on the part of a butler and is more apprehensive about the first night of performing than he is for any rehearsal.
“I am usually nervous about the opening show,” Hatchette said. “But especially this year because this is my first time in this part.”
Both Boyette and Myers have found that Orlando Ballet held an appeal they did not find at other dance studios. Offering their students the benefits of being joined with a professional ballet company, dancers can take part in complete productions, unlike many other locations in Florida.
“At other places I’ve danced, we have just done student showcases where we dance parts of ballets, but not the whole thing,” Myers said. “I just came to Orlando Ballet this year, and I had never been in a full length official Nutcracker, so that was something I wanted to experience.”
“The Nutcracker,” full of lively action and prominent music, is highly anticipated by the students of Orlando Ballet. With a variety of parts that change as the dancer progresses through the levels, there are many things that the students will have to look forward to as they come back to “The Nutcracker” each year. This year, though, Trinity dancers are eager to perform with friends, the company and in front of audiences.
“I am really looking forward to performing with the friends I have made [at Orlando Ballet],” Boyette said.
While Boyette most enjoys dancing with her peers, Myers is ready to experience the professional side of things.
“I am most excited about doing a show with the company.” Myers said. “I’ve never done a performance with a professional company.”
Any ballet production performed with a full time company, “The Nutcracker” included, is bound to be full of difficulties and obstacles. Myers and Boyette agree that they have learned that preparing for a production will be fast paced and thorough.
“Pay attention,” Myers said. “If you don’t know your stuff, then you’re going to get yelled at. You don’t want to be the one person who’s off not knowing what you’re doing, but it’s less stressful than I thought it would be.”
Hatchette, who has been performing with Orlando Ballet nearly all his life, learned quite a different lesson from this new experience.
“This year I don’t have as big of a role because I have been Fritz, Clara’s brother, for the last few years,” Hatchette said. “But I learned even though I am not a big part, every role is important and without a role something would be missing.”
With the holiday season fast approaching, Orlando Ballet invites you to attend “The Nutcracker” and see the product of the work put in not only by the company members and directors, but also by three of Trinity’s own students as they display their talents through an annual holiday tradition.
