By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Masha is returning to the big stage.
For the second year, the Black Swamp Fine Arts School is bringing its production “Masha and the Nutcracker” to the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts, 200 West Main Cross Street, Findlay. Performances are Friday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 16, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
A special toddler-friendly performance will also be offered on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 1 p.m. This abbreviated adaptation, lasting approximately 45 minutes, is designed to cater to toddlers’ attention spans in a more brightly lit and a quieter atmosphere.
For tickets, visit mcpa.org or call 419-423-2787 ext. 100. Tickets will also be available at the box office one hour prior to each performance.
The show is the school’s own interpretation of the classic “Nutcracker” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Having a girl named Masha as the protagonist, instead of Clara as in most productions, is indicative of what artistic director Hayley Haverner and the school’s founder and executive director Sophia Jarrell envisioned.
The dance is set in Russia in 1816 when the original story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” was published by Austrian writer E.T.A. Hoffman. Tchaikovsky wrote his ballet 76 years later.
The story begins on Christmas Eve with a family party, and the delivery of gifts by beloved Uncle Ivanov. Those include the Nutcracker that Masha takes a fancy to.
After the party, Masha has a fantastic dream with a battle between an army of mice and toy soldiers led by the Nutcracker. Masha plays a critical role in saving the Nutcracker and winning the battle. She then arrives a world of dancing sweets and flowers.
This mix of a Christmas party and then the dream makes sense to Bridget McCartney, who dances the lead role during Saturday’s matinee performances. (Brixton Burkholder performs the role in the two evening performances.)
“It’s something that could happen to you,” the 13-year-old Bridget said. “You go to a party and dream about what happened in the party.”
Bridget, the daughter of Libby and Matthew McCartney, has been dancing with the studio since it started about seven years ago, and she’s performed in all four productions of “The Nutcracker.”
The first two stagings were presented in the Bowling Green Performing Arts Center. Jarrell said moving to the Marathon Center provides a number of advantages, including a full technical staff, and greater technical resources. That includes, Jarrell said, using projections to make the ballet a more immersive experience.
Heather Spinelli, who has played the role of the mother in the first act and teaches at the school, appreciates the technical abilities of stage crew.
Once she’s off-stage she returns to her duties as a staff member corralling the young dancers backstage.
“The staff is wonderful. Before we had to worry about own music, our own curtains,” she said. “Before we had to take care of everything. … Even in costume I’m backstage working as staff. Having people help us with moving props is wonderful.”
She added: “It’s a beautiful theater. It makes it feel more extravagant for us.”
Her 11-year-old daughter Natalie, also loves the venue. “It’s so cool that so many people come to watch something that we spent a lot of time working on.”
Once the show is over, she’s exultant. “We actually did this. Backstage I’m like freaking out,” she said.
Natalie plays multiple roles – a skater in the opening scene, one of the mice on the hunt for marzipan, a sweet Russian pastila, and a snow flurry. This is her fourth Nutcracker with the school.
Though she likes having a big crowd, she’s not aware of the audience while she’s on stage. “I’m just there to perform and act like my character. It’s like nobody’s there.”
Bridget feels the same. “I just love performing. There’s something about being stage. You have everybody’s eyes on you. You’re just out there doing what you love, but you can’t see the people watching you. It’s just you on stage.”
She sought out the role of Masha because she wanted a chance to act more, rather than just dancing.
She played a number of parts over the last few years, various sweets, a mouse, a soldier, and a dew drop fairy.
Natalie said that she looks forward to the “Nutcracker” every year. “I love being with all my friends and getting to interact with others who love to dance.”
Dancing is her passion. “I love that I can just move my body and learn new things about it. I get to be with people who understand dance. I get to ask questions. … I just love coming in to dance.”
Bridget agrees. “I love the atmosphere of dance studio.”
One of eight children, McCartney has four sisters who dance at the school. “I just loved being where part of my family is.”
Having started when she was little and the studio was brand new, Bridget has had a chance to meet all the other dancers who have attended. “Along the way I’ve made some great friends. I just love how everybody is so friendly.”
Like the dancers she teaches, Heather Spinelli started dancing, tap and jazz, when she was young. Growing up in Point Place she studied at Dance Concepts and attended the Performing Arts School of Metro Toledo, where she danced in musicals.
Still, “I love tap. That’s my number one.”
But she had never been in a ballet before. “Masha and the Nutcracker” was her first.
“It was so neat to do it with a studio that was up and coming. Watching it grow has been the most exciting part.”
Spinelli was so impressed with the school that she joined the staff.
“In our dance studio, everybody works so hard, everybody is so kind,” she said. “We just have a lot of kids who put a lot of heart into it. As teachers we love it even more when they’re out there smiling.”
