Audiences from sea to shining sea adore “The Nutcracker,” but what about the professional dancers who have performed in the holiday favorite every year since they could barely reach the barre?
Do they share the audience’s ardor, or are they so weary of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story that they harbor secret desires to haul off and smack the Mouse King in the snout?
Alessa Rogers, one of four Atlanta Ballet dancers playing the lead role of Marya at the Fox Theatre through Dec. 29, is in the first camp.
“I can’t really speak for every dancer of course, but I’m one who really loves ‘Nutcracker,’” the 26-year-old said. “I don’t love hearing the music in every book store and coffee shop and mall that I go into, but I really do have a lot of fun doing ‘Nutcracker,’ and especially doing a role like Marya.”
For Rogers, who danced in her first “Nutcracker” as a 12-year-old North Carolina Dance Theatre student, part of the enjoyment is measuring her progress as an artist. As a student, she portrayed Marya in “Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker” in her first year here, in 2006.
In recent years, Marya’s coming-of-age story has been danced by a professional, a role consequently enhanced by artistic director-choreographer John McFall. Rogers, who stepped up to the professional company in 2007, is the only dancer who’s played the character in both manifestations.
“So I think it’s a neat thing to have grown and evolved with Marya,” she said.
This year she’s sharing the role with Jackie Nash, Nicole Jones and Xiwen Li.
“Of course you have to think ‘How do I keep it fresh? How do I keep it spontaneous and not make it seen like it’s the 300th time that I’ve done this?’” Rogers acknowledged. “It’s just part of the challenge, and I think it’s fun.
“John McFall gives us a lot of freedom to find those little nuances to make it feel like you’re doing it for the first time,” she said. “It’s live theater so it is different every time, even if you want it to be more consistent.”
A big twist this season is that magician Drew Thomas, who added illusions to last year’s production, is dancing the role of toymaker Drosselmeyer through Dec. 15. After Thomas departs, company dancers John Welker and Jesse Tyler will be ones with Thomas’ tricks up their sleeves.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Fridays (except 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27); 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays (except 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 22). Also: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 23; 1 p.m. Dec. 24; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 26. 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. Tickets, $20-$120, via
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EVENT
History Center makes holidays of old days current
The Atlanta History Center is offering “flights of time travel” during its annual holiday program, “The Holiday Spirit,” 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday. OK, that bears some explanation.
The Buckhead institution, which aspires to bring history to life, will feature friendly “spirits” recounting stories of holiday days gone by at its historic homes, Smith Family Farm and Swan House.
At the rustic Smith Family Farm, guests will interact with household members in the year 1863, as the Smiths and their neighbors prepare for the holidays and welcome furloughed soldiers. At the elegantly adorned Swan House, visitors will meet the decorator, chauffeur and maid who kept the manse running during the busy 1933 holiday season.
There also will be crafts demonstrations. Refreshments will be available from a modern-day concept, food trucks.
$16.50; $13 ages 65 and up and 13-18; $11 ages 4-12. 130 W. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta.
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DANCE
Harper companies joined by ASO principal cellist
The Westminster Schools’ holiday gift to the community is a free concert featuring Lee Harper & Dancers at 1 p.m. Saturday. The adult dance company, an Atlanta group since 1980, will be joined by the youth company Lee Harper & Dancers II, Harper’s Westminster Middle School Dance Class and the Westminster Middle School Chorus. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Christopher Rex, principal cellist, will accompany the dancers.
Doors open at 12:30 p.m. at the Kellett Theatre in the Broyles Arts Center on Westminster's campus, 1424 W. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta. www.westminster.net.
ARTS
Appointments at Roswell Cultural, Rialto centers
- Sarah Chandler has been named coordinator at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, charged with making the CAC a greater participant in the North Fulton community's arts scene. The Macon native has worked for performing arts companies including Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia, the Public Theater in New York City and the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Mass.
“This is a great time to be in Roswell,” Chandler said in an announcement. “This area is exploding with new businesses, a burgeoning arts scene, and youthful energy — and the Cultural Arts Center is ready to be a partner in all of it.”
The center is amid its third Live in Roswell concert and performing arts series, which presents the Nashville band Sixpence None the Richer at 8 p.m. Dec. 28.
950 Forrest St., Roswell.
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- Darlene Hamilton, former National Black Arts Festival director of marketing, has joined Georgia State University's Rialto Center for the Arts as assistant director of development.
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