Butler Ballet Presents 'The Nutcracker' Dec. 2-5
Thursday, October 14, 2010
It’s that time of year again: Butler Ballet brings the joy and splendor of The Nutcracker to life Dec. 2-5 at Clowes Memorial Hall.
Show times are: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2; 8 p.m. Dec. 3; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Dec. 4; and 2 p.m. Dec. 5.
Tickets are $21.50-$28.50 for adults; $17-$23 for children, students and seniors; $14-$20 for groups of 15 or more. Tickets are available at the Clowes Hall box office or through Ticketmaster. For telephone orders, call (800) 982-2787.
This year’s production features the Butler Symphony Orchestra under the director of Richard Auldon Clark performing Tchaikovsky’s score. The show will include a new Snow Scene choreographed by Professor Cynthia Pratt and a new Waltz of the Flowers choreographed by Professor Stephan Laurent. Assistant Professor of Dance Derek Reid continues to develop a new approach to the Party Scene, and Associate Professor of Dance Susan McGuire has added new pyrotechnics to the Battle Scene.
It’s also a first for Larry Attaway, who’s stage-managed the Butler Ballet production for many years but is now overseeing the show as chair of the Dance Department.
“It’s very exciting,” Attaway said, “and the way the faculty works here, everything we do is pretty much an ensemble effort. There’s clear input from everyone and a real cohesiveness to what they do and a real philosophical agreement about what The Nutcracker ought to look like. They’re at the same place artistically.”
This year’s Nutcracker will include 48 new faces – 48 Dance Department freshmen.
The increased number of dance students has enabled the faculty to double-cast a number of the principal roles. Thomas Lewellen, a senior from Peoria, Ill., and Karl Watson, a junior from Novelty, Ohio, will dance the part of Prince Nutcracker. Seniors Kathryn Austin (from San Clemente, Calif.) and Mary Agatha Schmank (Chesterfield, Mo.) will share the role of Sugar Plum Fairy, and Kristen Francomano (senior, New City, N.Y.) and Erin Langston (senior, Birmingham, Ala.) will switch off as the Snow Queen. Justin Metcalf-Burton (sophomore, Gaithersburg, Md.) and Sean Sessions (junior, Columbia, Md.) will alternate as the Snow King.
Andrea D’Annunzio (senior, Conshohocken, Pa.) or Lily Rupp (senior, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) will dance the part of the Dew Drop Fairy, with Lucas, Texas, junior Kyle Schlaefer or Gurnee, Ill., junior Garrett Glassman as their Cavalier. West Bloomfield, Mich., senior Kristen Hammer or Milwaukee, Wis., senior Anna Steinmetz will share the role of Columbine.
“It’s great for the students,” Attaway said. “Not only do they get a role to study, but they get to watch their peers interpret the same role. They learn by observing. When you’re it, there’s nobody to observe. It also means people can come to the show twice – more than twice – and see totally different dancers.”
In addition, 40 young dancers from the community will be part of the show. Ellie Ricker, 12, a student at St. Richard’s Episcopal School in Indianapolis, will dance the role of Clara. Center for Inquiry #84 student Luther DeMyer, 11, will reprise his role as Fritz, which he danced in last year’s production.
Also back from last year is Bud Kerwin, who taught dance at Butler from 1971-1997, who will again play Herr Drosselmeyer.
Attaway, who directed the Jordan Academy of Dance, the affiliate dance school for Butler Ballet and Butler University, said performing in The Nutcracker is a truly magical time for dancers of any age.
“Seeing it through the eyes of youngsters is quite remarkable,” he said. “There are still moments where the young dancers can let the magic overcome them and just embrace it. That magic of the heart, of bringing a present that doesn’t necessarily cost money, children can really see things transform and love it for what it is.
“And seeing it through the eyes of college students who are performing is a whole different kind of perspective. Even though they’ve reached a point where sentimentality and magic is not supposed to be cool anymore, they still get caught up in it, big-time. They act like they don’t, but they do.”
Butler Ballet dancers in this year’s Nutcracker (along with hometowns) are:
Seniors
Kathryn Austin (San Clemente, Calif.)
Clarissa Carey (Dayton, Ohio)
Callie Croom (Xenia, Ohio)
Andrea D’Annunzio (Conshohocken, Pa.)
Christine Dunn (Ridgefield, Conn.)
Christine Finch (Old Saybrook, Conn.)
Kristen Francomano (New City, N.Y.)
Kristen Hammer (West Bloomfield, Mich.)
Mary Fowler Howell (Nashville, Tenn.)
Tara Hutton (Wichita, Kan.)
Mary-Priestly Jarrard (Macon, Ga.)
Mikaila Koenig (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Erin Langston (Birmingham, Ala.)
Thomas Lewellen (Peoria, Ill.)
Aleksa Lukasiewicz (Novi, Mich.)
Jessica Martin (Fayetteville, Ga.)
Caitlin O’Riordan (Papillion, Neb.)
Carrie Patterson (Lawrenceville, Ga.)
Darcie Perkins (Stroh, Ind.)
Rachel Pike (Buffalo Grove, Ill.)
Danella Pistono (Bolivar, Tenn.)
Kayla Radomski (Muskego, Wis.)
Lily Rupp (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Mary Schmank (Chesterfield, Mo.)
Amanda Sewell (Millersville, Md.)
Anna Steinmetz (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Sarah Taylor (Salisbury, Md.)
Alessandra Yrure (Milpitas, Calif.)
Juniors
Madalyn Brinkhaus (Louisville, Ky.)
Heather Brustolon (Mystic, Conn.)
James Cleary (Princeton, N.J.)
Rebecca Deitrich (Lexington, Ky.)
Alexandra FitzGibbon (Fresno, Calif.)
Garrett Glassman (Gurnee, Ill.)
Emilija Grinvalds (Falls Church, Va.)
Abigail Kaesberg (Mahomet, Ill.)
Jennifer Martin (Atlanta, Ga.)
Madalyn Menor (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Lindsay Moncrieff (Mooresville, N.C.)
Christina Sahaida (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Kyle Schlaefer (Lucas, Texas)
Sean Sessions (Columbia, Md.)
Emily Tashjian (Lisle, Ill.)
Mai Uesaka (West Bloomfield, Mich.)
Karl Watson (Novelty, Ohio)
Jacqueline Wurzer (Wethersfield, Conn.)
Olivia Yoch (Richmond, Va.)
Brittany Yourstone (Ellicott City, Md.)
Sophomores
Kayla Armgardt (Albuquerque, N.M.)
Christina Brown (North East, Pa.)
Shelby Canella (Fairfax, Va.)
Matt Doolin (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Hailley Goleta (Oxnard, Calif.)
Patrick Green (Washington, D.C.)
Jean Jang (Austin, Texas)
Kristina Liu (Reston, Va.)
Danielle Martin (Mount Laurel, N.J.)
Justin Metcalf-Burton (Gaithersburg, Md.)
Danielle Morano (Head of the Harbor, N.Y.)
Chloe Obert (Lexington, Ky.)
Anna Peters (Colbert, Wash.)
Lauren Reed (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Coleen Rhea (Flemington, N.J.)
Morgan Sicklick (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.)
Sara Smith (Brighton, Mich.)
Alexis Spooner (Rocky River, Ohio)
Katrine Vorsa (Atco, N.J.)
Loren Williams (Webster, N.Y.)
Freshmen
Jennifer Baubkus (Hanover Park, Ill.)
Anaiya Baukman (Yeadon, Pa.)
Alexandra Benson (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Katherine Cano (Port Lavaca, Texas)
Maggie Carey (Dayton, Ohio)
Katherine Chappell (Houston, Texas)
Ashleigh Chuang (Collinsville, Conn.)
Courtney Coirin (Yorktown, Va.)
Stuart Coleman (Lynchburg, Va.)
Katie Currier (Norwich, Vt.)
Hillary Drawe (Metairie, La.)
Chelsea Flo (Utica, N.Y.)
Moira Frazier (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Christian Griggs-Drane (Richmond, Va.)
Madeleine Gurney (Leawood, Kan.)
Carly Hambridge (Matthews, N.C.)
Victoria Helfrich (Justin, Texas)
Amanda Hickey (Hanover Park, Ill.)
Takumi Iwai (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Erica Johnston (Champaign, Ill.)
Katherine Kline (West Des Moines, Iowa)
Mary Kate Kronzer (Herndon, Va.)
Zachary Kukla (LaPorte, Ind.)
Martha Leuthner (Whitefish Bay, Wis.)
Lindsay Moore (Holliston, Mass.)
Jourdan Morales (Crystal Lake, Ill.)
Lauren Nasci (Oak Creek, Wis.)
Felicity Nicholson (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Kelly Oden (Charlotte, N.C.)
Christina Presti (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Micaela Ritschl (Overland Park, Kan.)
Rachel Robbins (Long Beach, Calif.)
Audrey Robson (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Catherine Rogers (St. Louis, Mo.)
Samuel Rogers (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Shelby Shenkman (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Elizabeth Simoens (San Pedro, Calif.)
Madeline Sosna (St. Louis, Mo.)
Kathryn Stelmack (Stratford, Conn.)
Alexandra Still (Williamsburg, Va.)
Haley Tyll (Rochester, N.Y.)
Hannah Van Hollebeke (Bremerton, Wash.)
Hannah Van Nortwick (Oneida, N.Y.)
George Vargas (Grasonville, Md.)
Anne Vierse (Brentwood, Mo.)
Tai Vogel (Berkeley, Calif.)
Tess Weinberg (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.)
Katherine Wiley (Fenton, Mich.)
Young dancers
Ellie Ricker, 12, Indianapolis
Luther DeMyer, 11, Indianapolis
Lydia Estka, 8, Indianapolis
Paige Garcia, 9, Carmel
Ainsleigh Rund, 8, Fairland
Hope Sultzer, 6, Indianapolis
Nyla Gaither, 7, Indianapolis
Karla Suazo, 8, Indianapolis
Olivia Gooch, 8, Greenwood
Abigayle Guyer, 7, Indianapolis
Molly Pratt, 10, Indianapolis
Abigail Bixler, 11, Indianapolis
Madalynn Bright, 10, Greenwood
Kelsey Burks, 13, Greenwood
Rachel Chan, 11, Greenwood
Megan Dodson, 11, Avon
Grace Freese, 13, Indianapolis
Alexandra Jones, 12, Brownsburg
Zoe Kashin, 10, Indianapolis
Aviana McClish, 11, Martinsville
Michaela Sanger, 11, Indianapolis
Josie Voris, 12, Carmel
Owen Bowling, 10, Zionsville
Caleb Cloud, 8, Indianapolis
Isaac Evaniew, 7, Indianapolis
Noah Motter, 11, Indianapolis
Anthony Vasquez, 12, Indianapolis
Isabel Burks, 9, Greenwood
Sarah Chan, 9, Greenwood
Rachel Dukes, 10, Indianapolis
Savanna Grady, 10, Greenwood
Grace Greenlee, 10, Indianapolis
Ashley Hoover, 10, Brownsburg
Avery Iverson, 8, Carmel
Lauren Joseph, 10, Coatesville
Jacquelyn Meade, 9, Brownsburg
Maya Palmer, 8, Brownsburg
Olivia Reed, 9, Carmel
Kelley Wei, 10, Carmel
Taylor Griffin, 10, Indianapolis
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