Sugar Plum Fairies are pirouetting early this year, as the metro area will have many options for seeing “The Nutcracker” this holiday season ranging from a high-tech spectacle to more modest creations.
“The Nutcracker’s” story of magic and transformation is for many their first glimpse of a live ballerina — that satin-shod, tutu-clad feminine ideal.
Across Atlanta, varied representations of ballerinas abound. At Alpharetta’s Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, Maniya Barredo’s version features a traditional Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy. Ballethnic Dance Company’s principal female is Brown Sugar in the company’s version set in Atlanta’s historically Black Auburn Avenue neighborhood. Atlanta Ballet’s female lead dances both major pas de deux. She is child heroine, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy rolled into one.
Each year, the media and audience spotlight mainly shines on the rising star, but what does it take to channel the power and grace of the Sugar Plum Fairy over a period of years? And when we use the term “ballerina,” what exactly does that mean?
We asked dancers and directors across the metro area for their take.
Credit: Photo by Sirk Photography
Credit: Photo by Sirk Photography
Ballethnic Dance Company
In a studio on an East Point cul-de-sac block that was recently renamed Ballethnic Way, dancers Karla Tyson and Calvin Gentry are rehearsing Act II’s grand pas de deux from Ballethnic’s “Urban Nutcracker.” Tyson has performed as Brown Sugar for 12 seasons, eight with Gentry. The experienced pair moves in perfect synchrony.
Lydia Abarca Mitchell, first ballerina of Dance Theater of Harlem, sits on the edge of a small stage, coaching the two. She cues Tyson to hit each pose with clarity and expansiveness and to breathe into transitions, so there’s an elastic sense of pull between movements and a lilting feel that’s both regal and genuine.
Abarca Mitchell is featured prominently in Karen Valby’s recently published book, “The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History.”
In Abarca Mitchell’s view, a ballerina is “the epitome of the discipline and beauty that goes into ballet,” she said. “It makes you reach deep down inside and find that gift that you were given and share it with the audience.”
Abarca Mitchell helps keep Ballethnic grounded in the tradition of Dance Theatre of Harlem, where Nena Gilreath and Waverly T. Lucas II danced before they founded Ballethnic in 1990.
Tyson started at Ballethnic at age 5 and grew up watching Gilreath dance as Brown Sugar. At 16, Tyson was the first dancer to succeed Gilreath in the role and the youngest to perform it.
Brown Sugar dances to Tchaikovsky’s well-known score, but she adds her own jazzy rhythm and spice with tiny hip sways, her tutu subtly flavored with a showgirl’s style.
The nerves and pressure never go away, Tyson said, but she has learned to trust Gentry to support her. “Without words, we already know how we’re feeling,” she said. “When the legs are tired and the feet are hurting, it’s always nice to catch eyes, or look at him and smile, and know that he’s going to be there for me.”
Credit: Photo by Kim Kinney
Credit: Photo by Kim Kinney
Atlanta Ballet
The role of Marie in Yuri Possokhov’s version of “The Nutcracker” is exceedingly difficult, and Atlanta Ballet is counting on Airi Igarashi.
The company needs to make up for revenue losses due to the pandemic and to “The Nutcracker’s” 2021 move from the Fox Theatre to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. They need a star who’ll give audiences a magical experience.
In conversation, the petite Igarashi exudes delicate strength and intense focus. On stage, her luminous body lines project a warm, glowing energy that touches both heart and imagination.
Igarashi has danced a number of full-length classical roles — all with a ballerina’s inherent “talent, artistry, feeling for ballet,” said Angela Agresti, a member of Atlanta Ballet’s artistic staff. Igarashi creates good chemistry with her partner, and, as with any true ballerina, “you put them on stage and they know how to direct your eye to them,” Agresti added.
Igarashi, in Agresti’s estimation, “has that inner awareness of what she wants to be and what she knows that the role should be.”
In 2018, Igarashi debuted as Marie in the world premiere of the nearly $6 million production. It was her first principal role, Igarashi recalled, and she felt immense pressure to maintain stamina and execute complex steps with ease.
To forget her nerves, she immersed herself in the music and story of defending a wooden nutcracker in battle until her blossoming love transforms him into a prince.
The role never gets easier, but Igarashi still enjoys her character’s feelings of first love. And now, she sets a standard for younger dancers who are learning the part.
“She’ll go through the whole grand pas de deux variation and coda and achieve it when it’s a really difficult feat,” Agresti said. “It’s a good push for the newer Maries to know that it’s possible.”
Credit: Photo by Felicia Alva
Credit: Photo by Felicia Alva
Metropolitan Ballet Theatre
In 1978, Dame Margot Fonteyn formally gave Maniya Barredo the title of prima ballerina. An Atlanta Ballet star for nearly 20 years, the incandescent Barredo now directs Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and is celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary.
Barredo said the meaning of the term “ballerina” has changed.
“Why would you call a little girl who takes ballet a ballerina?” Barredo said. “It used to be an amazing goal to get to.”
The title comes to a select few after they have performed numerous lead roles in full-length ballets. Beyond using technique to execute difficult roles, a ballerina tells a story and inspires her audience.
“I like to see dancers when they cease to exist as dancers and become the role,” Barredo said. “And allow themselves to bare what they feel, and give it all they’ve got, and leave it on the stage. It’s a totality of selflessness of soul.”
She remembers indescribable experiences when performing on stage, and she felt so in tune with music, dance and audience that it was as if she was outside of her body watching herself dance.
“I was just elevated to that height,” she said. “That’s what it’s all about. See how far you can go, how much you can give. Not take, but give and share. And embrace this artist that you are without any limits.”
YOUR GUIDE TO “NUTCRACKER” PERFORMANCES
Atlanta Ballet. Dec. 7-26. $35-$168. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. 800-982-2787, atlantaballet.com.
“Urban Nutcracker,” Ballethnic Dance Company. 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 14, 3 p.m. Dec 15. $40-$80. Morehouse King Chapel, 830 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta. 404-762-1416, eventbrite.com.
The Georgia Ballet. 7 p.m. Dec. 5, 8 p.m. Dec. 6, 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 7, 3 p.m. Dec. 8, 7 p.m. Dec. 9. Sensory friendly show: 7 p.m. Dec. 9. $39-$59. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. 770-528-0881, georgiaballet.org.
Georgia Dance Theatre. 1 and 6 p.m. Dec. 7, 3 p.m. Dec. 8. $37.75. Sandy Creek High School, 360 Jenkins Road, Tyrone. 770-631-3128, gadance.com.
Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre. 2 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30; 1 and 5 p.m. Dec. 1. $22.50-$37.50. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. georgiametrodance.org.
Credit: Photo by Ksenia Orlova
Credit: Photo by Ksenia Orlova
Grand Kyiv Ballet. 7 p.m. Nov. 27. $39.75-$124.75. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-4800, aso.org.
Gwinnett Ballet Theatre. Dec. 13-22. $25-$154. Gas South Theater, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. 470-639-8243, gassouthdistrict.com.
“The Hip Hop Nutcracker.” 7 p.m. Dec. 26. $42.50-$90.50. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 855-285-8499, foxtheatre.org.
Credit: Donald Douglas
Credit: Donald Douglas
“Metro Atlanta’s The Gospel Nutcracker.” 6 p.m. Nov. 24. $55-$85. Morehouse College’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, 900 West End Ave. SW, Atlanta. thegospelnutcracker.com.
Metropolitan Ballet Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13, 2 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 (with 12:30 p.m. Sugarplum Storytime), 7 p.m. Dec. 14, 6 p.m. Dec. 15. $30-$40. Innovation Academy Theatre, 125 Milton Ave., Alpharetta. 678-297-2800, metropolitanballet.org.
North Atlanta Dance Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 and 16, 2:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17. $24-$31. Gas South Theater, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. 470-639-8243, gassouthdistrict.com.
“Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet.” 7 p.m. Dec. 19, 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 20. $38.50-$114.50. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 855-285-8499, foxtheatre.org.
Roswell Dance Theatre. Nov. 29-Dec. 8. $27-$50. Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs. 770-206-2022, citysprings.com.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Art Farm at Serenbe
Credit: Photo courtesy of Art Farm at Serenbe
“The Nutcracker Suite,” Terminus Student Company. 4 p.m. Dec. 13, 1 and 4 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15. $25-$45. Art Farm at Serenbe’s Lakeside Pavilion, 10950 Hutcheson Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. artfarmatserenbe.org.
