Clara gets the party started early with pre-Nutcracker storytimes

Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet “The Nutcracker” begins with a grand party on stage. Studio West Dance Theatre’s matinees get the party started early.

Clara’s Winter Wonderland Nutcracker Party introduces those new to the 125-year-old ballet to the story of Clara, who gets a Nutcracker as a gift and has visions of romance and adventure in magical lands of snow and sweets. The dancer playing Clara will read a picture-book version of the story to the children.

Studio West offered the parties for the first time last year. “I took my own children, and they’re asking to go again,” Studio West co-director Stephanie Wood-Ennett said in a Monday phone interview. “It was so much fun.”

The events are optional preludes to the studio’s ninth annual production, which features more than 230 dancers, including Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Joshua Grant in the role of Cavalier. It’s one of Olympia’s two Nutcrackers, with Ballet Northwest also wrapping up its production this weekend at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

At the Studio West pre-performance parties, the children will do crafts and can pose for photos with Clara and other characters.

“For little ones, it’s amazing to get to have a conversation with the characters and take pictures with them and then get to see them on stage,” Wood-Ennett said.

And before they watch Clara travel to the Land of the Sweets, the kids can eat some sweets themselves, including snowflake cupcakes.

The parties were inspired by similar events at ballets across the country. “A lot of major professional ballet companies do these gatherings for children,” Wood-Ennett said. “It makes the afternoon extra festive. We decided we’d see how it went.”

They were a hit last year. “I knew we had to bring the pre-show party back this year — and every year — after seeing so many young faces light up with Nutcracker joy,” co-director Mary-Cecelia Piper said in a press release.

Last year, there were two parties, one before each Saturday matinee. This year, there’ll be three, including one before the company’s first Monday matinee.

The company wanted to schedule eight performances over two weekends, as it did last year, but the Minnaert Center wasn’t available last weekend.

This year, there are seven performances over one weekend, with the first on Thursday. Since area school districts are on winter break, the company decided to try a Monday matinee as well.

The directors were a bit nervous about how the Monday show would sell, so youth tickets were offered at half price. The show has all but sold out.

“I just looked today, and there were like five tickets left,” Wood-Ennett said Monday.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 6:33 AM with the headline "Clara gets the party started early with pre-Nutcracker storytimes."