(419) 289-3581Nutcracker Memory - The Night of the Understudies!
October 21, 2014
From Becky Plank … ARB Board of Directors/mother of ARB Dancer Abigail (Plank) Carter
Our daughter went from Mouse to Clara and to Sugarplum Fairy with a few stops in between. So our family was a "Nutcracker family" for many years. As we are sharing Nutcracker Memories I wanted to share what, in our home, is remembered as "the year of the understudies".
I believe the year was 1995. None of the dancers assigned to understudy roles ever planned on this ever happening, so most didn't have their parts ready, and when the dominoes fell and 6 dancers had to change parts for 2 shows - what a teaching moment that was! The dancers that year learned what a serious responsibility the understudy holds. You must be ready if needed. Don't take it for granted you will not be called upon. The dancers who remember this Nutcracker never took the responsibility of understudy lightly ever again!
I was helping backstage that year and the scramble to make costumes fit the understudies in a short period of time was nearly as big as the dancers scrambling to learn their roles. It is funny how this turned into one of my favorite Nutcracker memories.
Note from the Director: I learned a big lesson that year too! I learned that the selection of understudies needed to be done in a way that would also keep other dancers in the roles they had rehearsed. I had made a list of understudies which allowed the "dominoes to fall" as Becky puts it so well. I never made that mistake again. Ha! ~Hellie Schussler, then Artistic Director of Ashland Regional Ballet
