'Tis the Season: A magical performance awaits you
Treat yourself: The Triangle Youth Ballet performs The Nutcracker with a live orchestra at The Carolina Theater in Durham.
Recording from Triangle Youth Ballet performance in 2018.
Since 1995, the Triangle Youth Ballet has staged an iconic production of Tchaikovski's classic holiday ballet and since 2008, they've done it with a live orchestra. Last week, Lauren Lorentz de Haas, Director of Triangle Youth Ballet and Andrew McAfee, Conductor of the Tchaikovski Virtuosi joined The Carrborean Radio Hour on WCOM 103.5 to talk about the upcoming production at The Carolina Theater in Durham, December 11, 12, and 13 at 7pm with a matinee December 13 at 2pm. That conversation is condensed here and you can hear the whole thing on The Carrborean Radio Hour YouTube channel.
They spoke about the history of their partnership and how the production has evolved. Over the years, the cast size has ranged from 56 - 114. Mr. McAfee spoke about the challenges with conducting a complicated score to match dancers' tempos. "...[T]he music is so hard, and each year we kind of have to gear up, it takes a couple of practices to be able to actually play it at the tempo that is in my head, at least. So there's a transition there. And then too, each year, there's individual personalities that I want to support. A soloist has a specific type of tempo or an ending they want to do. So we have a couple practices to work out that tempo. And then there's just always the fatigue factor. Or [a dancer] may have more energy, or there's a different mood. So it's always a little bit of a moving target. And by the end, I get pretty close." Ms. Lorentz de Haas added, "He gets spot on."
They also spoke about their favorite parts of the performance. For Mr. McAfee, it's "Snow." This production includes a children's choir singing during the Snow scene which brings tears to many eyes in the theater. For Ms. Lorentz de Haas, it's whatever she's listening to in the moment. While "Snow" is "really quite beautiful...if somebody said [their favorite] was the March or the Sugar Plum, or the Columbine...I just get swallowed up by the music and it is so enjoyable. It's my favorite in the moment."
Variations, regional and otherwise, make The Nutcracker productions special; no two shows are alike. Special parts of this production include the community connection through partnership with the children's choir, a special needs performance, a Toy Drive for the Chapel Hill Service League in the lobby, and the tradition that takes root in dancers and their families over years of performing. Ms. Lorentz de Haas notes, "I can tell you that the every year when we go into a theater, as we just did this past weekend, to block and rehearse on a stage, while the senior company is doing Flowers or the Sugar Plum is dancing, the Little Angels are in the back of the theater doing all of the choreography."
You can find more information about this production, including the thoughts of Carrboro-based dancers, in an article that appears in the free print edition of The Carrborean, pasted below.
*Updated to include link to The Carrborean Radio Hour YouTube Channel.