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The Bakersfield Californian Thursday, December 6, 2012
Eye Street Editor Jennifer Self | Phone 395-7434 | e-mail jself@bakersfield.com
Index First Friday................................................ 23 Arts Alive .................................................. 24 Bob Weir.................................................... 25 The Lowdown with Matt Munoz.............. 26 Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky.......... 27 Zombiewalk .............................................. 28 Grammy nominations .............................. 29 Calendar .............................................. 31-33
Visions of sugar plums It’s not Christmas in Bakersfield without classic ‘Nutcracker’ BY CAMILLE GAVIN Contributing writer
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n this holiday season, few things illustrate “visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads” as well as the “Nutcracker Ballet,” especially when the dancers on stage are accompanied by a full orchestra playing Tchaikovsky’s glorious music in the pit below. This weekend the Civic Dance Center and the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra will once again create that kind of magic with four performances at Rabobank Theater. It marks the 35th year of a successful collaboration between the dance company’s Cindy Trueblood and John Farrer, the orchestra’s music director. Recently, Trueblood, 61, recalled how the partnership began by virtue of an 8-millimeter film of a “Nutcracker” she had produced in the garage of her parents home in Park Stockdale, a residential community in southwest Bakersfield. “How in the world we did the entire thing in that garage I’ll never know,” she says now. “John (Farrer) was new in town then and I’d heard he wanted to do ‘Nutcracker’ with local dancers — his thing has always been to keep it local.” Fortunately, one of her students at the time was Kelly Salisbury, whose father, the late Dr. Norman Salisbury, was in the habit of filming all of his daughter’s performances. Given the technology available in 1977 the quality was not the best, but Trueblood contacted Farrer and asked if he’d like to see the film. “Kelly and I took that awful film and showed it to John,” Trueblood said. “It was nothing like the videos we get today. About a week after that, John called to say, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Tradition begins Thus it began, and it’s still strictly local. Counting all the musicians, dancers and volunteers, 350 local residents are involved. Many of the volunteers are former students whose children are carrying on the tradi-
ALEX HORVATH / THE CALIFORNIAN
Meagan Batish, Anika Johanesen and Christopher Le perform during a “Nutcracker” rehearsal.
‘Nutcracker Ballet’ When: 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday;1 p.m. Sunday Where: Rabobank Theater, 1001 Truxtun Ave. Admission: $34 to $38; fulltime students half-price. Tickets available only at ticketmaster.com or Rabobank Arena box office. Information: 323-7928
tion. In the three months before the December performances, the dancers learn and practice their steps to recordings of Tchaikovsky’s music for the ballet (the CDs are not necessarily those done by the Bakersfield Symphony). The cast has only
two full rehearsals with the orchestra before the actual performance, but Trueblood said that doesn’t present a problem. “In the studio we work with different CDs, but a CD is just a machine and John is so human,” she said. “He works with the dancers and talks to them afterward.” Trueblood is assisted by three other choreographers: Kristen McLaughlin, Alicia Angelini and Ann Conrad. Each is responsible for a certain part of the production and each has a separate practice time, which starts right after Labor Day. Keeping the traditions is important but Trueblood said there is some minor tweaking of the choreography. “We always change the way we do things every year, but the Please see NUTCRACKER / 30
Kevin Trueblood, left, works with Spenser Prow. The local “Nutcracker” ballet is among the rare productions that still use live music.