CORNER BROOK, N.L. — The Kittiwake Dance Theatre is hoping to inspire Corner Brook with dance.
The St. John's-based dance company is holding its first-ever ballet in Corner Brook with two showings of The Nutcracker at the Arts and Culture Centre Dec. 18-19.
It is part of a series of performances of the Tchaikovsky Christmas classic, including four in St. John’s and one in Grand Falls-Windsor.
Martin Vallée, the Kittiwake art director for The Nutcracker, said the main goal of the show is outreach.
The organization is starting to travel to areas like Corner Brook to grow ballet across the province.
“We’re really committed to bringing ballet past the overpass to central and also western Newfoundland,” he said. “More and more, we find that companies come to perform here less and less. We’re trying to build something on that.”
While song and dance is an important part of traditional Newfoundland and Labrador culture, Vallée believes there is room to grow more interest in ballet.
The Nutcracker is performed yearly by the company and, because it’s such a recognizable show, Vallée felt it was a good choice to draw an audience during a tour.
“Basically, we’re just trying to build an audience and we find it’s a great ballet to do that,” he said. “And because it’s during the festive season, it’ll make more people want to come to see the show as well.”
Kittiwake will also be incorporating local performers to promote ballet in the community, particularly among youth.
Around 20 local children will be joining two hired professional dancers and a core of 18 company dancers in the production.
“We’re trying to broaden the knowledge of what ballet and contemporary ballet is, and the best way to do that is to start with the young children so they know what that is,” explained Vallée.
One of the young Corner Brook dancers who’ll be dancing in The Nutcracker is Keira Clarke, 13.
Clarke has been dancing since she was just three years old and specializes in ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance.
She sees it as a means of self-expression.
“It’s a way I can express myself no matter what emotion I’m feeling,” she told The Western Star. “It just lets me feel free. No matter if I’m stressed out about school or other work. I can just dance and it seems to make everything better.”
She immediately jumped at the opportunity to audition for Kittiwake’s production of The Nutcracker and will be dancing in multiple roles as a gingerbread soldier, a cousin and a clown.
This won’t be the first time the young, but experienced, dancer has performed in productions of The Nutcracker.
She previously danced in the ballet for Dance Studio West in Corner Brook.
But this experience with Kittiwake Dance Theatre will be new for Keira nevertheless.
“A lot of the performances I’ve done before, I’ve been doing it as a class, but this performance I got to audition for it and get to dance with these professional dancers, so it’s very interesting and quite different to be dancing with them,” she said.
She’s excited to practice and work with professional dancers.
“It’s going to be so cool,” she exclaimed. “It’s going to definitely be great for the rest of my career, for sure.”
Grant Wareham, 12, is just as excited.
He’s going to be performing as one of the cousins.
Wareham took his first hip-hop dancing class this summer and now he’s hooked.
He’s mostly looking forward to get the opportunity to perform this role with his friends.
“I really like the character I am and I just like dancing with my friends,” he told The Western Star.
He feels inspired to do more dancing after this.
Youth like Clarke and Wareham might get another opportunity to dance ballet again in the new year.
The Kittiwake Dance Theatre will actually be returning for a performance of Alice in Wonderland in the spring.
The show is scheduled for early May.
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