For decades, the Annabel Timms School of Ballet has hosted its own version of Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic, “The Nutcracker.” Featuring young dancers of the studio, the musical is presented every other year at Bridgeport High School.

 

The studio may be under new ownership, but the show goes on. Studio 9 Dance Academy will host “A Children’s Nutcracker” Dec. 1-2 at the BHS auditorium.

 

“I wanted to continue traditions established by Annabel Timms School of Ballet,” said Studio 9 Dance Academy owner Heather Starkey Mudrick. “The dance students and community look forward to the holiday classic every other year that was established over 20 years ago.”

 

Mudrick remembers the first show in 1997. She was then a young ballet student under Timms’ instruction and part of the very first “Nutcracker” performance. She was in the opening party scene – in the Spanish dance and Waltz of the Flowers. She has good memories of it, she said. She knows how the young dancers feel to be part of the show.

 

“As it has been such a tradition with the dance studio, most of the older students have gone through all the various roles – from the jesters to the mice and soldiers and now the main variations,” Mudrick said. “We have fun at rehearsal acting out and learning so much about each other. They really enjoy the classic tale of the Nutcracker ballet which is much different than our regular recitals. They get to tell an entire story that the audience understands without uttering a word.”

 

The younger dance students really look up to the older dancers in main roles such as Clara, the Sugar Plum Fairy and hope to one day to see themselves in those very roles, Mudrick said.

 

This year’s show features Madison Hess as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Ellie Hart as Clara, Ariel Roberts as the Snow Queen, Mackenzie Gould as the Arabian Princess, Taylor McDonald as the Mouse King and her sister Hailey McDonald as the Nutcracker.

 

Mudrick returns to the Nutcracker stage as Clara and Fritz’s mom. Her three daughters are part of the show, too. Grace is a jester, Emma plays Fritz, a soldier and in the Russian dance and Madison is Clara’s friend, soldier, candy cane and in the Waltz of the Flowers.

 

In the role of Herr Drosselmeyer is Albert Altovilla, who instructs hip-hop, jazz and contemporary dance at the studio. He was also in the very first show in 1997.

 

The show will be presented Saturday Dec 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 2 at 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. at BHS. Pam Kroll’s Musical Studio will be singing prior to the ballet. Tickets - $10 for adults and $5 for students - will be available at the door.

 

Editor's Note: Rehearsal photos are courtesy of Heather Starkey Mudrick.