The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Children's Nutcracker to visit SIUC

For Alejandro Fonseca, performing the title role in "A Children's Nutcracker" was not at all what he expected.

"I was kind of scared," he said. "But then whenever I started learning, I felt confident with it, and here I am."

Fonseca, from Burgh, Ind., and the rest of the Children's Dance Center troupe has teamed up with the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra and area dancers to present a one-hour adaptation of "The Nutcracker Ballet" at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Shryock Auditorium. Tickets are $15 for the general audience and $9 for senior citizens or children 15 and younger.

According to the center's Web site, the Children's Center for Dance is a non-profit organization designed "to introduce children to the experience of dance through studio instruction and outreach performances." In addition to classical ballet, the center offers classes in modern dance, tap and tumbling for children of all ages throughout the entire tri-state area of Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Although the center is not about competition, Deena Laska-Lewis, the center's artistic director, said dancers still must audition to be part of the touring ballet company. Dancers become eligible when they enter junior high school and can participate until they graduate. The company begins rehearsals in August and does up to 30 performances during its season, which lasts until May. This will be the center's first performance at SIUC.

Laska-Lewis said while company members always play the principle roles for all the center's ballets, there are many adjunct parts filled by non-company performers. For the University performance, Carbondale area dancers from age 5 and older have filled in, learning their parts in less than three weeks.

Ballet is definitely not all fun and games, according to 14-year-old Sam Moore. Moore, who began his ballet interests behind the stage, said most people do not appreciate how difficult the dance really is.

"This is not me getting to twirl around on the floor a couple times," the Evansville, Ind., native said. "As far as I'm concerned, this ranks right up there with football as far as difficulty."

Moore will play the role of Drosselmeyer, the toymaker.

"A Children's Nutcracker," based on "The Nutcracker and the King of Mice" by E.T.A.

Hoffman, follows the dreams of Clara, a young German girl who received a special Nutcracker doll from the village toymaker for Christmas. Jealous of Clara's beautiful toy, her brother Fritz breaks the doll as he tries to steal it. Although the toymaker repairs the gift, later that night Clara becomes worried and ends up falling asleep with the Nutcracker in her arms.

Waking up about midnight, Clara realizes she has shrunk and her toys have come to life. Her Nutcracker doll and his toy soldiers must defend Clara against the evil mouse king and his minions.

When the battle is over, the Nutcracker transforms into a handsome prince who shows Clara a glistening forest of dancing snowflakes. They continue their journey into the Land of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy entertains them with dances from many different lands. The story ends as Clara wakes to find it was all a dream.

Laska-Lewis said the idea for "A Children's Nutcracker" as a shorter adaptation came from her days as a principle ballerina, when she would guest star as the Sugar Plum Fairy.

"Now the original Nutcracker is two or two-and-one-half hours with intermission," she said. "And I would come on - whether I was in Memphis, Tenn., or some outskirts of St. Louis - and all the children would be asleep, because the Sugar Plum is at the end of the second act, which is already two hours into the show. And I never found that quite fair."

Trying to remedy the problem, Laska-Lewis said she and a composer edited Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" to eliminate repeats and filler music. She said they adapt the plot slightly each year while keeping the essence of the original ballet. In this particular adaptation, the mouse king is a mouse queen, and they have incorporated the use of stilts.

Laska-Lewis said she has found 57 minutes a useful length, both for keeping orchestra costs down and for school performances. Laughingly, she said fathers have become some of the adaptation's biggest supporters.

"They can feel they've fulfilled their obligation to go see their children without having to sit through two-and-a-half hours of 'Swan Lake' or three hours of 'Cinderella,' which they find painstaking," she said.

Ballet is anything but painstaking for most of the center's troupe, however. Melissa Corning, a 17-year-old from Broomville, Ind., said she wants to make a career of ballet.

She said ballet has given her confidence and allowed her to visit many different places.

"Dancing here has broadened my horizons to actually make a living of it," she said. "It's been a really good experience."

The Carbondale performance will be this year's company premier.

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