Bigfork dancers to perform in 'Nutcracker'
In towns and cities all over the
country audiences will be treated to the beloved holiday tradition
of “The Nutcracker” ballet, and Bigfork is no exception.
This Thanksgiving weekend marks the
18th annual performance of “Nutcracker” by the Northwest Ballet
Company. Led by Director Marisa Roth and her elite Company Members,
the five performances include dancers from the Northwest Ballet
School and members of the community. A handful of those dancers
include Bigfork residents as well. Isaac Reichner, a junior at
Bigfork High School, is a Dad in the Party Scene. His wife is being
played by Keiko Sagami, a senior at Bigfork High School. Matiana
Rodriguez, who is a home-schooled seventh grader, will dance as a
Snow Corps. MaKenna Holman, a home-schooled fifth grader, is
performing as a Solider and a Sheep. To top it off, the centric
role of Clara is being played by Eliza Reichner, a freshman at
Bigfork High School.
Reichner has been taking ballet classes
with Northwest Ballet Company for 11 years and this year she became
a company member. Reichner, who is a member of the school’s
cheerleading team, has also taken three years of jazz dance
classes.
Over the years she has performed in
various other roles in “Nutcracker,” including as an angel and a
mouse, a Spanish Doll and a Party Boy and last year as a Flower
Core member.
“It gets you ready for Christmas and
it’s a great thing to look forward to during Thanksgiving,”
Reichner said of performing in “Nutcracker.”
Despite her years in the ballet, this
will be Reichner’s biggest role to date. In fact, it will be
Clara’s most challenging role in years as Reichner will dance the
part en pointe and will have a pas de deux — which is a partner
dance.
“I’m excited for the Party Scene and to
do it en pointe,” Reichner said. “I’m also excited to be back in
the Party Scene because I haven’t been in it in awhile. Also, my
cousin (Neiman Wilson) and my brother are in it, so it will be a
fun family event.”
Roth said that she felt Reichner would
take on the role well, which led to her selection.
“It is her first year as a Northwest
Ballet Company member and she had never been Clara, which is sort
of every girls’ Nutcracker dream role,” Roth said. “Also, the fact
that she can be en pointe brings something a little more to the
show. She’s just a great fit.”
Roth could have had Reichner dance the
role as it has been the past few years, but she prefers to help her
students reach their potential with a little push.
“I always like challenging them,” Roth
said. “It’s good for them. I think that Eliza is being challenged
in that she is en pointe, she’s in every single scene, she has a
pas de deux and its her first one, and she has to carry the show
with her own persona. She has done a great job with the challenge
and she’s been working really hard. I’m really excited to see how
it all goes together and how she does with it all.”
Despite this being the most difficult
role Reichner has danced, she says she’s ready for this weekend’s
performances.
“Last week I kind of got nervous for
dress rehearsal as I was picturing the whole thing,” Reichner said.
“But now I’m in the theater and I’m just used to it, so now I’m
excited more than nervous.”
“Nutcracker” will be performed at 2
p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 4 p.m. Sunday. All
performances will be held at the Bigfork Center for the Performing
Arts. The ever-popular Sugar Plum Fairy Parade will follow the 2
p.m. matinees on Friday and Saturday. Tickets for reserved seating
are available Monday through Saturday until the day of each
respective show day at The Bookshelf on First & Main in
Kalispell (756-2665). On show days, tickets will be available at
the Bigfork theater box office one hour before the performances
start. Ticket prices are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors 65 and
older and $15 for children 12 and under. For more information, call
the Dance Art Center at 755-0760.