Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Donna Khademi, 16, of Waverly, arrived at ballet rehearsal on a recent Tuesday evening carrying a tray of orange cupcakes.
You might say she brought sweets for the “sweets” as she offered the treats to fellow dancers who will represent “tea” in Ballet Northeast’s production of “The Nutcracker,” set for Dec. 16-18 at Wilkes University’s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center.
In this traditional tale of Clara and her nutcracker prince, tea is just one pleasant surprise in a land of enchantment that also offers coffee and hot chocolate, sugar plums, flowers and whirling snowflakes.
“It’s a really magical ballet,” said Sarah Stec, 17, of Dalton, who portrays a mature version of Clara.
The ballet’s first scene introduces a younger Clara, danced by Jordyn Chepolis, 12, who has to cope with a mischievous — perhaps jealous — younger sibling.
“The little girl gets a nutcracker as a Christmas present and her younger brother breaks it, but her uncle fixes it,” Jordyn said.
Does her brother regret what he did?
“I don’t think he’s that sorry,” Jordyn said. “I think he enjoys breaking it.”
Some of the teen-age dancers in the show have been studying ballet since they were preschoolers, and have appeared in just about every “Nutcracker” role, starting as the youngest guests in the Victorian party scene or as children who scamper out of Mother Ginger’s voluminous skirts or if they’re a little older, fighting in the battle of mice versus toy soldiers.
Rachael Wooditch, 15, of Dallas, worked her way up the ladder of simpler roles to reach the plum role of Sugar Plum Fairy this year.
“I was really excited,” she said, remembering the joy of seeing her name on the cast list after the audition. “I’ve been thinking about it since I was a little kid. I always wanted to be Sugar Plum. It was my dream.”
Making that dream come true is “a lot of work; it’s really hard,” Rachael said. “I’ve got to maintain my stamina.”
When Rachael started taking ballet lessons, her mother, Lisa Wooditch said, she and her daughter both marveled at the way older, more experienced dancers performed.
To see her own child reach those ranks has been breath-taking. “It’s amazing to see what she can do,” Lisa Wooditch said as she sat in a hallway at the Darte Center, working with another ballet mom to help make the magic happen.
“We do whatever we can,” said Anne Papciak, of Mountain Top, as the two busily steamed tulle costumes.
“Everybody does something,” Papciak said. “Some of our friends are putting baskets together for a (fundraising) raffle, getting flowers to sell here, and arranging a cast party.”
While the moms were steaming, Wooditch’s younger daughter, Laura, and Papciak’s son, Christopher, were rehearsing in different studios.
“I started (taking lessons, about two years ago) because I thought it would be awesome for basketball, and I can jump pretty high now,” 12-year-old Christopher Papciak said. “But it turned into so much more. It’s something to look forward to.”
“At first I was shaky on being the only boy,” he said. “I sort of kept it a secret. But now my friends know and they might tease me, but they’re not mean about it.
“I didn’t know how hard it was until I started taking lessons,” he added. “I have so much admiration and respect for everyone who’s been doing it for seven or eight years.”
It is challenging, some of his fellow dancers said.
“But ballet is so worth it,” said Donna, the girl who brought the cupcakes. “When I’m dancing, I feel like I become someone else.”
