A Sweet Feat: ‘Nutcracker’ Ballet to Bring Back Holiday Magic

oliday Magic By Allison Collins

“Nutcracker is definitely a holiday tradition, and I decided 35 years ago that we would do this for the community. But I’ve always felt, if you’re going to do it, we have to do it right.”

Gnomes, portrayed by some of Decker’s youngest students, push the sleigh containing Clara and her Nutcracker prince as members of the corps and the Snow Queen dance.

Donna Decker, owner of Decker School of Ballet and director of Fokine Ballet Company, is returning visions of sugar plum fairies to Oneonta.

Decker will revive her annual holiday production of “The Nutcracker” Friday and Saturday, Dec. 16 and 17, with performances at Goodrich Theatre on the State University of New York at Oneonta campus. Performances took a pandemic-induced hiatus, though abbreviated Nutcracker events were held in 2020 and ’21. This year marks the company’s 35th Nutcracker and the first full-length production since 2019.

Decker said she felt the show must go on.

“People kept saying, ‘You have to do it for the kids,’” she said. “And I didn’t want to end Nutcracker that way, being forced not to perform (during the pandemic), so we needed to come back.”

This year’s roughly 50-person cast, Decker said, includes area children from 6 to 18, parent volunteers and professional dancers.

“We’ve got (students) from Oneonta, Unadilla, Walton, Delhi, Andes, Cooperstown, Morris and Laurens,” she said. “Most young people love to perform and they’re always excited about the guest artists coming in. The older girls are going to be backstage watching the guest artists, but even the younger ones, 8 and 9, are in the wings watching these professionals and, normally, professional ballet dancers are the kind of people that are so happy to share with younger kids and they’re always willing to help. (Former student and current studio instructor) Hillary (Reiter) did most of the casting, so she’s getting friends (from international and national productions in which she’s performed, such as) ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Annie’ and ‘West Side Story.’ And I had a student, Kouadio Davis, who is now with Dance Theatre of Harlem, coming as Cavalier (the male lead), and he’s bringing his own Sugar Plum (Fairy), so it’s the prodigal son returning and I’m very excited about that. (The professionals) bring so much maturity that it really rounds out the program.

Children and parents in the party scene of the ‘Nutcracker’ listen to Godfather Drosselmeyer in this shot from the 2017 Fokine Ballet production.

BRENT DELANOY

“Nutcracker is definitely a holiday tradition, and I decided 35 years ago that we would do this for the community,” Decker continued. “But I’ve always felt, if you’re going to do it, we have to do it right. I

Olivia Collins and Kahrin Vesterfelt, cast as party girls in the 2018 ‘Nutcracker,’ pose backstage. have great dancers in the studio, but they’re not as polished as an older professional, so I thought it would be good to bring in the professionals to add the icing on the cake … and I also wanted to bring in professionals so the older students, especially, had something to look forward to and up to and see what it’s like to be a real, professional dancer.”

Beyond Ballet

Benefits to the young performers, Decker said, begin far before they take the stage.

“One of the biggest things is the weekend rehearsals,” she said, noting that auditions were held in early October. “Parents keep telling me how much (kids) love these, so even though they’re working hard, it’s like party weekend for them. We started ‘Sushi Saturdays’ (this year), because I’m there, and anyone who’s helping me is there, six to seven hours. I would say rehearsals are probably 80 to 100 hours.”

Decker said pre-production demands, too, are varied and vast. Planning for the show is executed by several parent-volunteer committees.

“I think what people don’t realize is all the behind-thescenes work,” she said. “It’s not just dance; it takes us four or five days just to get the stage ready for the production. It’s lighting and all the scheduling and rehearsals and housing for the guest artists. We do the school programs Thanksgiving Week, where we go to three schools and do a truncated version of Nutcracker. And it’s finding advertising for the programs. It’s endless, and that work starts the year before.”

Very Merry

But Nutcracker’s accessibility and seasonality, Decker said, have kept it a classic among audiences and performers.

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“It’s for the young and young at heart,” she said. “It’s a great ballet to introduce kids to, because there are children their age on stage, and I think children love watching children perform. It’s one of the best ballets to introduce children to the artform.

“I have a lot of audience members who come because they went to a Nutcracker as a child and they have to see it again,” Decker continued, noting patronage from Otsego County, Norwich and Binghamton. “Many make it a tradition just to come every year. Last year, the community was very disappointed that we didn’t have a Nutcracker and our school shows are already selling out – usually they’re sold out by Thanksgiving, so we’re way ahead of schedule – so people have missed it. And the dancers are very excited to bring this production back to Goodrich Theatre.”

For ticket information, email fokineballet@ hotmail.com or call the studio at 607-4326290. Also, visit deckerschoolofballet.org. f

Above: Dancers perform, masked, in one of the abbreviated ‘Nutcracker’ events during the pandemic. Right: Juliet Doherty, playing the Sugar Plum Fairy, dances with her cavalier, Slawomir Wozniak Jr., in a pas de deux from the second act of the Fokine Ballet

production. Contributed.

The ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ from the Fokine Ballet ‘Nutcracker’ is seen in this 2017 photo.

Steeped in Tradition

According to deckerschoolofballet.org, the Fokine Ballet Company was established in 1988 “to enhance the area’s cultural climate with quality performances.”

“The company prides itself on showcasing professional dancers of the highest caliber from the New York metropolitan area, and Poland and Russia, with whom our young dancers have the opportunity to perform,” the site states.

Company director Donna Decker began dancing at 4, performing with the Bolshoi Ballet by 14. She toured the East Coast, dancing professionally with the Irine Fokine Ballet, founded by her mother. Decker, is also a descendant of Michael Fokine, often credited as “the father of contemporary ballet,” the site notes. Decker founded the Decker School of Ballet, providing classical ballet instruction, in 1972.

The Fokine production of “The Nutcracker” reflects that pedigree, based as it is on the original 1892 Petersburg production. Decker’s grandmother, Alexandra Federova Fokine, restaged the original production, the site notes, for the Ballet Russe in 1940 and Decker’s mother, Irine Fokine, presented her version in 1957. It is on the latter that Decker’s production is based.

The Nutcracker will be performed at Goodrich Theatre, Ravine Parkway, Oneonta, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 16 and 17. Friday’s show begins at 7 p.m. and shows take place at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday.

BRENT DELANOY