By Elizabeth Seward 

The party scene in The Nutcracker. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

For anyone who’s spent at least one holiday season in Richmond, you know that Richmond Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is an unforgettable part of the festivities. As someone who has been fortunate to perform in this production for years, I’ve had a backstage view of the intricate work that brings this performance to life. The Nutcracker is a tradition not just for the audience, but for the performers too. 

This year, nearly 150 students from the School of Richmond Ballet are participating in The Nutcracker, a massive effort that features a cast of 180 total dancers. To manage the 16 performances, the ballet divides the roles among multiple casts, allowing more students a chance to dance on stage. Over the past 35 years, Richmond Ballet’s The Nutcracker has become a pillar of the holiday season in Richmond, uniting young dancers and professionals in a heartwarming story about a girl and her Christmas toy.

For many theatergoers, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker is a beloved holiday tradition. With combative rats, glittery fairies, magical dolls, and a suspenseful plot, there are countless reasons why families return year after year to watch this heartwarming performance. From the grand sets to the intricate costumes and timeless choreography, The Nutcracker has something for everyone. But have you ever wondered where all this magic comes from?

As a dancer at the School of Richmond Ballet, I know that The Nutcracker is just as magical for the dancers as it is for the audience. From the age of 11, I had the opportunity to be a part of The Nutcracker, playing various roles every year until the age of 15. I started as a cook, with roughly thirty seconds of stage time, and gradually, I progressed to more advanced roles, like a regiment soldier or a Sugar Plum Fairy attendant. 

Students and professional dancers rehearsing together for The Nutcracker. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

Regardless of age, all of the cast members are treated like professionals. We had meticulous costume fittings and high expectations to know our marks, timings, and choreography perfectly. We danced on stage in front of hundreds of people alongside real-life ballet dancers. I remember how my friends and I thought of the professional dancers as absolute rock stars. We were in awe just sharing the stage with them, and whenever they spoke to us after shows, we were completely starstruck.

Reflecting on my own experience in Richmond Ballet’s The Nutcracker, I began to wonder what it is about this production that makes it so special for both performers and audiences alike. To gain a deeper understanding of what brings this performance to life year after year, I interviewed several dancers and instructors who offered an inside perspective on what makes Richmond Ballet’s Nutcracker unlike any other. 

Richmond Ballet’s The Nutcracker features Tchaikovsky’s timeless score, brought to life by the Richmond Symphony, and choreography crafted by Richmond Ballet’s former artistic director Stoner Winslett. This choreography is the core of what makes Richmond Ballet’s production so beautiful. Winslett’s attention to detail provides a sense of continuity and tradition, as each performance is grounded in the same core movements and storylines, year after year. 

Eri Nishihara performing in The Nutcracker as “the Butterfly” in 2023. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

In an interview, Eri Nishihara, a ballet dancer in the Richmond Ballet company who’s danced in The Nutcracker for 11 seasons, described how Winslett’s style is rich in narrative clarity. “She has so much detail in the story that takes course throughout the entire ballet,” Eri said, explaining that Winslett’s choreography holds onto a structure that keeps the production fresh while preserving its legacy. This level of detail means that, as a dancer, every rehearsal and every performance builds on a lasting tradition that audience members feel when they attend the show each year.

By preserving this original choreography, The Nutcracker brings a sense of tradition and continuity to each performance. Deanna Seay, a longtime instructor at Richmond Ballet, explained how Winslett’s dedication to preserving the original choreography shapes the experience for dancers and audiences alike. This year, Seay is working with the cooks, the battle scene dolls, and the Sugar Plum Fairy Attendants. She explained how “the choreography has been the same from year to year. Every year is polished and performed as if it were brand new.” This consistency allows them to watch the development of the young dancers on stage. Seay shared how since the choreography is the same from year to year, “audience members can come and watch people grow the roles, and see the students grow from Mice to Lambs to Party Scene Girls to Angels to Sugar Plum Fairy Attendants, and depending how far they go, you could watch them go through the entire Nutcracker.” Winslett’s choreography is not just about the movements themselves but the legacy they represent and the connection they create between the dancers and the audience.

Richmond Ballet student rehearses for her role as “mouse” in The Nutcracker. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

One of the most heartwarming aspects of Richmond Ballet’s The Nutcracker is the integration of young dancers, including six-year-olds, with professional ballet dancers. Seay explained how the instructors go about teaching this choreography to such young children. She shared the importance of character development, and how it is emphasized early on in rehearsals: “We get them to draw on experiences in their own life… they need to be animated; they need to tell a story.” This focus on storytelling encourages the dancers to bring more to their performances than just their classical ballet technique. 

For all dancers in The Nutcracker, learning the roles goes far beyond simply learning choreography. Especially for the battle scene dolls and the party scene children, whose facial expressions are crucial for the audience to understand the plot, the children are encouraged to embrace acting as much as dancing, developing their ability to communicate a story without words. Seay described how “sometimes it’s more acting than dancing,” noting how important these early lessons in expression and mime are to the final product.

Frances Roberts performing as Clara in 2021. Photo credit: The Richmond Times- Dispatch.

Frances Roberts, a senior at James River High School and a student at the School of Richmond Ballet, shared her perspective on the magic of The Nutcracker as it’s unfolded across her own life. Roberts has danced at Richmond Ballet for over a decade, and performing in The Nutcracker has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Roberts started off her Nutcracker career as a black lamb, the tiniest member of the entire cast. This year, she is performing as a regiment soldier for the second year. In between lamb and soldier, Frances has been a part of nearly every aspect of The Nutcracker, performing as a mouse, party scene girl, mother ginger bunny, Sugar Plum Fairy Attendant, and Clara, the lead role. 

Clara and her Nutcracker. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

The entire plot of the ballet revolves around Clara, a young girl who has an extraordinary dream about her Christmas gifts coming to life. Playing Clara is the dream of many young dancers. Having the most stage time of any other cast member, performing the role of Clara doesn’t come without its fair share of pressure. At just 15 years old, Roberts had the privilege and responsibility of bringing this role to life. Roberts felt her role as Clara allowed her to be both an audience member and participant, witnessing the magic unfold alongside the audience and responding with authentic amazement to each moment on stage. “It’s like you’re in the story while also creating it for everyone watching,” she explained. This role challenged Roberts to portray Clara’s genuine excitement and curiosity, reminding her of the joy that first drew her to dance. Looking back, Roberts described her experience as Clara as transformative, saying it helped her develop both her acting and her dancing skills in a way that has influenced her performances ever since. 

Roberts also shared how, before playing Clara, she’d idolized the dancers in that role, assuming they knew every step and never made a mistake. However, in Roberts’s first rehearsal with the children’s cast as Clara, surrounded by younger kids looking up to her, she realized she hadn’t learned a certain part of the choreography yet. She saw that Clara wasn’t some perfect ballerina but a role filled by someone just like her. “I didn’t know the choreography yet. I could tell they were looking at me, expecting me to know it, so I just looked back at them,” she shared. “I learned people don’t know what they’re doing all the time, even when it looks like they do. It’s okay, because we’re all just making mistakes and messing up together.”

Ellie Silvent performing in MKSD’s production of The Nutcracker in 2023. Photo credit: From the Heart Images.

Not all dancers have had such a long connection with the School of Richmond Ballet as Roberts. Ellie Silvent, a sophomore at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, started rehearsing as a Sugar Plum Fairy Attendant in her first year at Richmond Ballet. Silvent had previously danced at Marianne Kelley’s School of Dance (MKSD), where she was a part of their production of The Nutcracker for many years. In an interview earlier this fall, she noted a few differences between her experience at Marianne Kelley’s and her experience at Richmond Ballet. “The rehearsals move a lot faster at Richmond Ballet,” said Silvent, “and we learn the choreography quicker. We’ve already finished in four rehearsals.” She went on to explain how “the costume fitting was very professional, which was not something I was used to.” She was surprised by the amount of care the costume team put into each fitting, making sure everyone was comfortable and looked their best. She was also pleasantly surprised to learn that each Sugar Plum Fairy Attendant was given their very own costume. Silvent remarked how meaningful Richmond Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker can be, even to newcomers. 

At Richmond Ballet, the students are split into four divisions: Children’s Division, Lower, Middle, and Upper. The Trainee program for pre-professional dancers connects the school to the professional ballet. These apprentice dancers comprise the corps de ballets in The Nutcracker: the Snowflakes and the Flowers. 

The iconic “Snow” scene. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

For Carley Schenkman, a trainee at Richmond Ballet, her progress through the School can be tracked through her Nutcracker roles. In an interview with The Match, Schenkman described her transition from a regiment soldier, which she performed as a student in the Upper Division, to the more demanding dances of a Snowflake and a Flower as a trainee. “Regiment was a much shorter dance, so we learned it pretty quickly,” she explained, “Now, I’m in two six-minute dances, which means I have rehearsals every single day for The Nutcracker.” Schenkman shared how the increased rehearsal schedule has pushed her to refine her technique and master more complex choreography. “‘Snow’ is very complicated,” she said, describing how much trial and error goes into mastering the piece. The trainees use videos from previous performances to help them understand their roles in the corps de ballet. 

The intergenerational connection of dancers in The Nutcracker is something Nishihara, a Richmond Ballet company dancer, cherishes deeply. Nishihara has performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Butterfly, and the Columbine doll, among other roles. Nishihara explained how “The Nutcracker holds a very special place in everyone’s heart who’s ever done it. Whether you’re a professional, a student, or in the children’s cast, that connection is something everyone shares.” She explained how the inspiration is reciprocal when younger dancers work with professional dancers. The chance to work alongside students and newer dancers not only inspires the younger generation but also renews her own passion for ballet. “It’s really nice to be reminded once a year during Nutcracker to just have fun,” she said. “Dancing with children who are just so happy to be on stage, and who think you’re the coolest thing they’ve ever seen—it reminds us why we dance and why it’s so special.” 

“Finale” of The Nutcracker. Photo credit: Richmond Ballet.

Nishihara’s words echo the experience of many who have graced the Richmond Ballet stage, highlighting how The Nutcracker is much more than a performance—it’s a legacy passed down through each dancer. She described Winslett’s choreography as brilliantly cohesive, giving each child, trainee, and company member a place in the story that remains faithful to its heartwarming narrative. “Winslett uses the children’s cast very effectively, and there’s this combination of high-level, challenging ballet and something so adorable and heartfelt,” she shared. “Every time I dance this Nutcracker, I think about all of the previous dancers who have danced it, as well as all of the next generations that might dance the same roles.” As Nishihara and other Richmond Ballet dancers embody this legacy, The Nutcracker continues to enchant audiences, proving that its magic lies as much in its history as in the joy of those who bring it to life year after year. 

After many years of performing in The Nutcracker, this year I will be taking on a new perspective and watching it from a velvet seat rather than behind the stage curtains. I encourage all of you to do the same by purchasing your tickets here for performances that take place December 7-23.