OKC Ballet's DaYoung Jung celebrates decade of dancing with 'The Nutcracker' double duty

For a decade, DaYoung Jung has been doing double duty during the holidays.

A principal dancer at Oklahoma City Ballet, Jung plays the plum role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in some performances of the yuletide classic "The Nutcracker." At other shows, she portrays Clara, the innocent girl who gets swept away on a sweet adventure after she is gifted a handcrafted — and evidently enchanted — nutcracker.

"Whatever my age, it's always joyful to play Clara. I would say that Clara is my favorite, favorite role ever," Jung said. "With Plum, you have to be so perfect, technical-wise, so it's a lot different than Clara. ... I love Plum, don't get me wrong, but with Clara, it's so fun to just be on stage interacting with kids. I just get inspired every time I get to stand on stage with students."

It may be the yearly bread-and-butter title for practically every American ballet company, but this year's production of OKC Ballet's "The Nutcracker" will be an especially sweet treat for Jung as the dancer celebrates her 10th season with the company, which is marking its 50th anniversary.

"Isn't that crazy that it's my 10th season? I would have never thought it. Ten sounds like it's easy to say, but to be with one company for 10 years ... I just can't believe it," she said.

"I'm just so honored to be a part of Oklahoma City Ballet's 50th celebration ... and for me as a professional dancer, this 10 years is everything. Who I am, what kind of dancer I am, everything comes from these 10 years."

OKC Ballet reprising holiday classic in grand fashion

After performing a "Short & Sweet" version of "The Nutcracker" in 2020 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, OKC Ballet is bringing back the holiday favorite this season in full, grand fashion, with eight performances Dec. 11-19 at the Civic Center Music Hall.

The nonprofit organization also is planning a comeback of its family-friendly fundraiser The Nutcracker Tea in the Kingdom of Sweets from 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 18 in the Civic Center's Meinders Hall of Mirrors.

Since the company's professional dancers are vaccinated against COVID-19 and undergo rigorous testing, Mills said they will perform without masks. This year's production will bring back children from OKC Ballet's Yvonne Chouteau School, but since the vaccine was only recently approved for youngsters 5 to 11, they will perform in masks.

Civic Center audiences also are required to wear masks.

"There's something about the Nutcracker that people don't tire of it ... and it will be much closer to normalcy this year," said OKC Ballet Artistic Director Robert Mills. "When young people go to see 'The Nutcracker,' it is ... oftentimes the first ballet that they see. And it's very common that they come out of there and they say, 'I want to take dance classes.' So, it does launch careers into the world of classical ballet."

In his 14th year as artistic director, Mills has captivated audiences with an annual rendition of “The Nutcracker” that remains faithful to the original libretto that premiered in 1892 at the Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Powered by Pyotr Tchaikovsky's treasured score and adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the seasonal fantasy centers on a girl named Clara who receives a handcrafted nutcracker as a Christmas gift from the enigmatic Dr. Drosselmeyer. The gift proves the catalyst for a fairytale adventure with fanciful characters ranging from a mouse army and a spellbound Nutcracker Prince to a regal Sugar Plum Fairy and an assortment of dancing delicacies.

The dance company is bringing back the Oklahoma City Philharmonic this season to perform Tchaikovsky’s iconic music live at every performance, and new this year, Canterbury Voices will provide soaring vocals during one of Mills' favorite "The Nutcracker" vignettes: the "Waltz of the Snowflakes," often known simply as "the snow scene."

"I'm excited because that snow scene will now be what Tchaikovsky wrote in regards to what he envisioned, what he wanted. ... They will sing during the snow ... which is the end of the first act," Mills said. "So, 'The Nutcracker' will really be a collaboration of three arts organizations."

'The Nutcracker' vital part of OKC Ballet's origin story

OKC Ballet is celebrating its celebrating its 50th anniversary season in 2021-22, marking the formal founding of the nonprofit arts organization in 1972 by Ballet Russe dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov.

But the company's origin story actually dates back several years earlier — and starts with "The Nutcracker."

In December 1963, the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet, under the artistic direction of Chouteau and Terekhov, performed “The Nutcracker” with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra at the Municipal Auditorium (now the Civic Center).

Legendary American Ballet Theatre principal Maria Tallchief danced as the Sugar Plum Fairy in that initial production. Tallchief and Chouteau are counted among Oklahoma's five famed American Indian ballerinas known as the Five Moons, and they subsequently worked together to audition the company's first dancers.

"Over the years, of course, as you can see, the company has grown, and 'The Nutcracker' has has its own evolution in sets and costumes and various dancers over the years," said Mills, who danced with OKC Ballet and numerous other companies during his 14-year professional performing career.

"When I think of Clara, I think of a DaYoung. She's a beautiful Sugar Plum as well. But she dances that role of Clara ... exactly how I want it to be done — and she's lovely in it. She is capturing that childlike wonder that we all have had around the holidays."

Christmas classic provided longtime dancer with first principal role

Hailing from Gyeongsang, South Korea, Jung trained at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy and graduated with honors with a specialist degree in ballet pedagogy. In 2006, she was a semifinalist in the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Donetsk, Ukraine.

She joined Oklahoma City Ballet in 2012, was promoted to soloist in 2014 and elevated to principal dancer in 2017. Along with soloist Autumn Klein, who also joined OKC Ballet in 2012, Jung is currently the longest tenured dancer in the company, and she got to start this season premiering an original piece she choreographed at the University of Oklahoma's Five Moons Dance Festival and then the OKC Ballet's "Ballet Under the Stars" performances at Scissortail Park.

Even after a decade of performing the yuletide favorite with the OKC company, Jung said "The Nutcracker" is still a demanding show, especially given the technical difficulty of the Sugar Plum Fairy's part.

"The other day, Mayu (Odaka, one of the company's soloists) kind of made a comment, 'You should know this step because you've been doing it for 10 years.' ... Even though I've done it, like many times, it's always challenging in the sense that I have to work hard. It never gets easier for sure," Jung said.

Although she grew up dreaming of dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy — "it's like everybody's dream role" — Jung said she is grateful that the youthful energy of playing Clara never fades, either.

"The best part of being Clara for me is that because I teach at the school, too, those students that I get to teach I also get to perform with on stage. They are my party girls, they're soldiers. ... One girl, she did Little Mouse and now she's doing an angel (role)," Jung said.

"I'm just happy and grateful that I still get to dance and I still get to do what I love."

Oklahoma City Ballet's 'The Nutcracker'

When: Dec. 11-19.

Where: Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker.

The Nutcracker Tea in the Kingdom of Sweets: 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 18 in the Civic Center's Meinders Hall of Mirrors. Requires a separate ticket from the show.

Tickets and information: www.okcballet.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Ballet's DaYoung Jung celebrates decade of dancing with 'The Nutcracker' double duty