'Kids get their chance to just shine': 'The Nutcracker' set for 28th annual performance

Tutus and legs spin frantically in the center of the room, as dancers practice their routines that will be seen center stage at Newark’s The Midland Theatre in just a few short days.

The room is lined with mirrors and filled with the sounds of children whispering to each other and thuds when they land after leaping. A sewing machine, hard at work on a costume for a prince, whirs in the background.

"Stop!" Robert Cole, the artistic director and instructor at the Central Ohio Youth Ballet, called out to the cluster of ballerinas twirling in front of him.

"Let’s do that again," he said. "Reset. Try to look like you’re having fun."

Cole is in the midst of directing and choreographing the school’s annual holiday performance of "The Nutcracker," a two-act classical ballet set to open Nov. 24 at The Midland. It’s a show he’s choreographed 28 times now for the Central Ohio Youth Ballet, and he delights in putting together the puzzle pieces of cast, crew and costumes each year.

Since 1995, the Central Ohio Youth Ballet’s "The Nutcracker" has graced stages across Licking County: first at Denison University, then at Newark High School and finally at The Midland, where it’s been since 2002. This year, the company has added more shows in December at the Woodward Opera House in Mount Vernon.

"Every year, the show changes drastically," Cole explained during a Saturday rehearsal, less than two weeks before opening night. "The story line stays similar, but the parts change drastically. It makes it exciting. It makes it challenging, but it also makes it exciting."

"It’s almost like putting together a dance symphony," COYB co-founder Lisa Cole echoed.

With 42 youth ballet dancers and a dozen adults performing under Robert’s watchful eye this year, he’s got his hands full as the performance draws closer.

"Feet together!" he called out to one of the students in rehearsal.

Watching that symphony come together after months of rehearsal-packed weekends is like magic each year, the dancers and their parents say.

"Seeing it all come together is my favorite part," said Kathleen Burt, the company manager and mother of a CYOB dancer. "When we sit in the theater and watch the show and see it all come together and see the kids get their chance to just shine… That’s my favorite part."

This year, Robert cast two ballerinas to play Clara, one of the lead roles in the ballet: 10-year-old Aspen Baird and 12-year-old Norah Cuthbert.

Both have been dancing for several years and have made friends with ballerinas across the company.

"I’m here every weekend, but it’s worth every weekend," Cuthbert said. "My favorite part is making friends and trying to push myself to do better."

"My best friends are here," 12-year-old Lilly Rehs, the show’s Mouse Queen, said while poking at Aspen. "We might be playing enemies (in the ballet), but I know that if something happens, I always have people at my side."

For Aspen, the show is a family affair: Her mother Abby is the show’s narrator this year.

"It’s such a commitment, and we’re here every weekend, so it’s great that parents can be involved," Abby said. "It’s a great way to make memories together."

Students begin work on the annual performance in August each year, with weekend rehearsals and long hours spent in the studio after school. Their parents get to participate, too, cast as extras in the background of the ballet or working in the costume shop, where they often play what they call "Tutu Tetris."

"We lay all the costumes out on the floor and see who fits in what and which colors are beside which colors," said Amy Parsons, who has four children dancing in "The Nutcracker" this year. "All the costumes are made in-house, and they have been mostly all made by hand."

Over the years, Robert has worked with hundreds of dancers from across central Ohio, and many of them have gone on to dance in companies and at schools across the country. But from year to year, he doesn’t know which dancers plan to stay or what they’ll be able to do from season to season.

"I work with the dancers I have," he said. "Last year, the Prince and Clara were 17 and 18 years old, and this year, the Prince and Clara are 10, 12. It totally changes the story. It changes what their abilities are. I still have to make it look like they’re professional dancers."

This year, attendees can catch performances of CYOB's "The Nutcracker" Nov. 24-26 at The Midland Theatre and Dec. 9-10 in Mount Vernon.

Julia Lerner writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism Program, which is funded in part by the Mellon Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: 'The Nutcracker' to take center stage at Midland Theatre this weekend