Nutcracker Program

Welcome to The Nutcracker!

The Nutcracker is one of those ballets that most dancers have a story about or has participated in one way or another. Whether as a professional dancer, a student, or a teacher the Nutcracker has touched us all. But the Nutcracker goes so much deeper than that, with the involvement of the costumers, set designers, prop artists, photographers, and the endless stream of volunteers year after year after year after year. We watch the children grow from SnowBees to Mice and eventually all the way up to Dew Drop Fairies and Sugar Plums!

As an artist, I love directing the Nutcracker because it is an opportunity for me to grow from year to year, adapting the choreography to our dancers, adding new costumes as we learn how to make better and stronger bodices, tutus, and jackets. I get to add characters, get rid of some not so popular ones, and the casting ebbs and flows as the dancers grow, and graduate. We then have the younger students that have been watching the older students, suddenly, they are the older students with new young faces watching and learning from them. It is a refreshing cycle for all of us involved. The choreography fits like that favorite sweater in your closet that you wear over and over again and it is so incredibly comfortable, but then you wash it and while the same sweater, there are parts of it that you must break in again as we change a step here or there. Always growing, always evolving.

I guess that’s what it comes down to, a chance for us to try again. To get it better, bring more surprises to you our audience, every Nutcracker season. I welcome you to look for the changes, look for the additions and ways that we are growing. You the audience are the very reason we do this, to pass along the excitement we feel when dancing to the incredible Tchaikovsky score, and wearing the beautiful costumes that make us feel elegant and supreme! We dance the choreography that is so embedded in our feet and brains that it has worked its way into our hearts and souls that we will never forget. And yet, I am already thinking about next year’s Nutcracker 2024 and what surprises we will have in store for you then.

So, thank you for your support by coming and seeing us perform this holiday tradition, the Nutcracker!!

Julianne Whitman McWilliams

~ No flash photography ~

~ No video recording ~

The Nutcracker Crew

Director – Julianne Whitman McWilliams

Assistant Director – Grace McWilliams

Choreography – Julianne Whitman McWilliams, with Clare Kresse, Emma Lucas, and Grace McWilliams

Ballet Mistress – Clare Kresse

Rehearsal Assistant – Jon McWilliams

Stage Manager / Volunteer Coordinator – Emma Lucas

Assistant Stage Manager – Abby Marvin (Alumni)

Technical Director – David W. Nelson

Sound – Ogle Center Tech

Costumes designed by – Julianne Whitman McWilliams

Costumers – Selena Elbl, Patricia Gibson, Donna Ruley

Costume Assistants – Kara Reilly, Leila Reilly

Costume Crew – Kate Bariteau, Tristan Coy, Noelle Kilby, Gail Legg

Sets and Props – Clare Kresse, Emma Lucas, Grace McWilliams, Lily Price,

David Reilly, Kara Reilly, Leila Reilly, David Schoen, Lauren Schoen

Stage Crew – Charlotte Bariteau (Alumni), Jennah Blair (Alumni), Mary Grace Kelty (Alumni), Caroline Norsworthy (Alumni)

Program Design – Grace McWilliams

Poster Design – Clare Kresse

Ticket Sales – Jennifer Dee Schulten, Ogle Center

Head Volunteers – Stephanie Dailey, Leigh Ann Lynn, Kara Reilly, Lauren Schoen

Flowers for dancers – Nanz & Kraft Florists

Videos – Harlan Richter (Video Wizard)

Photography – Jon McWilliams & Leila Reilly

And a lot of Volunteers tirelessly assisting all of the LAFA staff and dancers!

A special Thank You to the Ogle Center Staff!

Participating Studios

Thank you for trusting us with your dancers!

Elevate Dance Ministry, Envision Dance Company, Louisville Dance Alliance, Sacred Heart School for the Arts, That’s Dancing, The Dancer’s Pointe, Thrive School of Dance, Youth Performing Arts School

The Nutcracker

Music by: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Original Sugar Plum Choreography: Marius Petipa

Cast A: 12/8 & 12/9 at 7:00 / Cast B: 12/9 & 12/10 at 2:00

Act One – Scene One – Party Scene

Clara – Ava Claire Malone / Charlotte Peterson

Fritz – Preston Price

Party Children – Marion Barber, Rhodes Becher / Maizey Bowen (Friday), Anne Costello, Abby Dailey, Clara Dupont, Sallie Goodwin, Taylor O’Brien, Rachel Schrodt

Clara’s Friends – Lily Hissong / Rachel Mills, Addie Lynn /Maizey Bowen,

Holland Hulsewede / Carter Hafer, Evangeline Montoya, Annika Olsen, Jewell Sullivan-Pope

Herr Drosselmeyer – Cannon Cutter

Frau Stahlbaum – Ashley Copeland / Grace McWilliams (Saturday 2PM)

Grandfather – Howard Whitman

Maid – Sophia Conatser, Hannah Legg

Party Parents – Cast A: Kate Bariteau, Jennifer Calhoun, Kaela Dickerman, Jon McWilliams, Ronnie Schrodt, Angie Witten, Andrew Witten

Cast B: Kate Bariteau / Charlotte Bariteau (Sunday), Christina Becher, Marty Becher,

Jennifer Calhoun, Andrew Dailey, Chris Harlow, Jon McWilliams, Ronnie Schrodt

Harlequin – Claire Schoen / Holland Hulsewede

Columbine – Rachel Mills / Ella Dailey

Act One – Scene Two – The Battle

Medic Mice – Charlotte Brown, Jazlynn Butler

Mice – Amelia Brice, Lydia Frederikson, Sarah Kate Fuchs, Lily Ng, Conley Sorrels,

Sloane Wachs

Nutcracker Prince – Aspen Livesay

Toy Soldiers – Bryn Billingsley, Maizey Bowen / Addie Lynn, Annabelle Boylan,

Addison Dattilo, Carter Hafer / Lily Hissong, Tatiana Runnion, Tessa Tackett

Rat King – Brendan Miller

Rats – Sophie Ayre, Tru Elbl, Abby Legg / Larkin Blair, Eva Meredith, Lydia Morgan

Act One – Scene Three– The Snow Forest

Snow Queen – Larkin Blair / Abby Legg

Snowflurries – Lucy Cain, Caroline Eifler, Ruthie Harlow-Morgan, Charlotte O’Brien, Marsia Pickering, Savannah Wilkinson

Snowflakes – Sophie Ayre, Ella Dailey / Claire Schoen, Tru Elbl, Sara Beth Hardesty,

Rachel Mills, Lydia Morgan, Charlotte Peterson / Ava Claire Malone, Mia Reilly, Lauren Rowe, Jewell Sullivan-Pope / Bryn Billingsley

~ 15 Minute Intermission ~

Act Two - Scene One – Cotton Candy Clouds

Angels – Bryn Billingsley / Ella Dailey, Maizey Bowen, Annabelle Boylan, Addison Dattilo, Carter Hafer / Rachel Mills, Holland Hulsewede, Addie Lynn, Evangeline Montoya, AnnikaOlsen, Tatiana Runnion, Claire Schoen, Jewell Sullivan-Pope / Lily Hissong,Tessa Tacket

Cherub Angels – Reagan Ball, Magnolia Calhoun, Lydia Carroll, Iris Colvin, Stella Coy, Hattie Kilby, Jordan Marvin, Jiyu Park

Act Two - Scene Two – Land of the Sweets

Sugar Plum Fairy – Abrie Graeter / Mia Reilly

Sugar Plum Cavalier – Brendan Miller

Cooks – Cast A: Shelby Grace Copeland, Jaidaa Dekhil, Taylor Fields, Camille Hartlage, Kaia Payne, Rosie Ruley, Danielle Quinn, Ruby Witten

Cast B: Kate Eifler, Caroline Fuchs, Eden Kues, Ellie Lavelle, Rose O’Brien, Sully O’Reilly, Raven Owsley, Amelia Richardson

Spanish Chocolate – Tru Elbl / Sophie Ayre, Abby Legg / Larkin Blair, Eva Meredith, Evangeline Montoya, Lydia Morgan, Annika Olsen, Mia Reilly / Abrie Graeter, Lauren Rowe / Jewell Sullivan-Pope, Tatiana Runnion / Ella Dailey, Tessa Tackett

Arabian Coffee – Sara Beth Hardesty and Brendan Miller

Teapot Quartet – Bryn Billingsley, Ella Dailey / Jewell Sullivan-Pope, Lily Hissong /Holland Hulsewede, Addie Lynn / Maizey Bowen

Candy Canes – Carter Hafer, Aspen Livesay, Rachel Mills, Charlotte Peterson /Ava Claire Malone, Claire Schoen / Addie Lynn

Marzipan – Larkin Blair / Abby Legg, Tru Elbl / Sophie Ayre, Sara Beth Hardesty, Lauren Rowe / Claire Schoen

Madame Bonbon – Sophie Ayre / Tru Elbl

Polichinelles – Cast A: Leah Catlett, Madeline Fohr, Cali Kiertekles, Bella Lynn, Lucy McGarity, Carmella Pickering, Aubrie Price, Nora Schoen, Rian Wildman

Cast B: Cambell Beery, Brooklynn Bloyd, Brynn Byrum, Charlotte Effinger, Rosemary Hatcher, Elise Low, Vivian Stetzler, Lyla Sullivan Pope, Harper Woodward

Dew Drop Fairy – Arabella Conatser / Lauren Rowe

Waltz of the Flowers – Maizey Bowen / Addie Lynn, Holland Hulswede / Carter Hafer, Abby Legg / Larkin Blair, Lydia Morgan / Claire Schoen, Charlotte Peterson /Ava Claire Malone, Mia Reilly / Abrie Graater, Bryn Billingsley / Eva Meredith, Rachel Mills / Lily Hissong, Jewell Sullivan-Pope / Ella Dailey

Bumblebees – Lucy Cain, Caroline Eifler, Ruthie Harlow-Morgan, Charlotte O’Brien, Marsia Pickering, Savannah Wilkinson

THE END

Upcoming Performances:

Spring Arts Gala

March 16th

Sleeping Beauty

May 17th, 18th, and 19th

Spring Music Recital

May 19th

Classes start January 8th, 2024!

Join us for Dance, Music, Drama, Creative Writing & Visual Art!

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