Kids on their Toes

Christmas is a time of magic, of ritual and tradition. A part of that tradition in Northwest Connecticut is the Nutmeg Ballet’s presentation of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. Now led by Artistic Director Victoria Mazzarelli, the production has been a staple of the Christmas season for more than a quarter of the century.

“It’s been a long run,” said Mazzarelli. “It started very small, as one act, and grew from there. It’s such a tradition for so many families.”

The last of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, The Nutcracker was first performed in December 1892 and is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King.

Indeed, the production is now so established, so rich in detail, dancers and costuming, that last year Nutmeg won the Universal Ballet Competition’s Virtual Nutcracker first prize for Part Scene and its Doctor Drosselmeyer, portrayed by Mazzarelli’s husband, Thomas Evertz, won the Outstanding Character Performance award.

This year’s Torrington performances are slated for the next two weekends at the Warner Theatre. They will be at 2 PM and 7 PM on December 11th and 18th, with matinees at 2 PM on December 12th and 18th. Those unable to attend in person can get tickets to watch virtually by going to the Nutmeg Conservatory website at www.nutmegconservatory.org, the Warner Theatre at www.warnertheatre.org or Facebook.

Mazarrelli was formerly a student at Nutmeg Conservatory and, under Nutmeg founder Sharon Dante’s tutelage, won the only gold medal at the first New York International Ballet competition. She was involved in many performances of The Nutcracker before going on to dance professionally with the Basel and Zurich ballets in Switzerland as well as the Frankfurt Ballet, all in the position of principal dancer.

“Now, I am back teaching,” she commented. “So many people who studied here have gone on to other careers and come back. We’re caring about the kids and loving what we are doing.”

She said the training offered by the conservatory can be critical to the students’ development. “It is great training for them,” she observed. “Not all go on to dance professionally but their work ethic is amazing and the way they feel about their bodies is great. Body positivity is so important. Some of them go on to dance, some find training positions, others go to college. They go on and find their passion.

“I try to give them a very professional feeling,” she continued. “They are kids but we work on things like how they come on stage, how they look at each other on stage—it’s a team effort and every role is important.”

The youngest students to appear in the production are six-year-olds. “They are angels, soldiers and clowns, and we include all the grades right up to high school-age kids and a couple of post-graduate dancers,” she said. “We have two acts and two Claras in our version. Young Clara receives the gift of a Nutcracker from her uncle and falls in love with the doll. In the second act, she’s growing up and the wooden doll she loves becomes a prince. It’s really lovely and brings in the holidays.”

Work on the production starts in September. “This year, we started at the end of September, looking at them and which roles might be right for them. We like to teach them all the main roles and sometimes there are surprises. They get this spark—some kids are such natural performers. But we have to be careful not to overstress them.”

It is hoped that the performances can be done without masks this year but Mazzarelli said dancing with masks is not an impediment. “We performed all last year with masks and it’s not an issue. The little soldiers have skin-colored masks and we put rosy circles on their cheeks. From a distance they look like wooden soldiers—it fits right in.”

“Especially in this time of Covid, for kids to have this, it’s some kind of normalcy. We see the joy they have in this production, getting on stage and seeing what it means to people,” she concluded.

The Nutmeg’s 40,000-square-foot building complex was opened in 2001 in Torrington. The facility consists of five dance studios, seven dressing rooms, a main community/academic study room with several smaller study rooms. There are fully equipped costume and dance shops, three student lounges, a board room, office spaces, a fitness room, a physical therapy room, a library, and a viewing area. The building is also home to The Nutmeg’s children's division, The Torrington School of Ballet.