Ballerinas Work Hard To Wow Audience
‘A good performance and you’re elated the rest of the season. A bad performance - you cry and make excuses.”
Ceci Klein’s words hang in the silent studio as eight ballerinas digest them, each in her own way. Then Ashley Cooper’s eye catches her image in the mirrored wall and she can’t resist watching herself extend her leg. The spell is broken and rehearsal resumes.
These Coeur d’Alene girls have only days until their big performance in “The Nutcracker” at North Idaho College with Ballet Idaho, a professional touring company.
They’re 11 and 12. Their legs are so skinny that their pink tights bag at the knees. They giggle and whisper to each other. Their faces still are little-girl sweet, their eyes eager.
“I want people to say, ‘Wow, that was amazing,”’ Brianne Duncan says when she thinks about Tuesday’s ballet. She’s paid her dues as a mouse and a bon-bon in Nutcrackers past. This year, she’s a girl at a party and on stage for 45 minutes straight.
“I want them to say, ‘Whoa, I didn’t expect them to be so professional,”’ says Abby Jester. She stretches her flamingolike limbs on the barre and bends gracefully to press her cheek to her knee. She’ll dance the role of Clara, the little girl who receives the magical nutcracker.
“She practices all the time, everywhere,” says Abby’s mother, Patti. “I have to tell her to stop.”
The taped music starts. Heel forward. Bend from the hips. Head toward right second balcony. They’ve done the moves every day after school for five, six, seven years.
Shalem Jonas and Julianna Wiesenhutter point, turn, leap. Christina Graf solos for an absent dancer and smiles at the polite applause from the other girls. Andrea Cooper practices everyone’s parts while she waits for her cue.
They’ve all danced in “The Nutcracker” before. But this year is different. They’re between adorable and professional. They know their skill must shine.
“Kids at school think ballet is just turning in a circle,” Andrea says. “I want them to see me and say, ‘Wow, she’s good. Ballet is a lot harder than I thought.”’
“The Nutcracker Ballet” starts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in NIC’s Schuler Auditorium. Tickets are $12 and $14 or half-price for students and children. Call 769-7780.
Special delivery
Coeur d’Alene’s Life Care Center’s plan to send gift packages to kids in Bosnia, Croatia and Rwanda reminded Wallace’s Sandy Mongelli of the time a package from home thrilled her sister, Lisa.
Lisa was living in England and hadn’t seen her family for three years. While she was gone, her mother turned on the tape recorder while Lisa’s unsuspecting father was home for lunch one day.
“He was angry at a neighbor and was fussing and cussing and stomping around the kitchen while he made a sandwich,” Sandy says. “My sister cried listening to that tape - an unplanned, unedited recording of our dad doing what he does best.”
Sing for supper
Treat your family to its own actor. Call the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre at 769-7780 now and book a performer into the extra bedroom in your home next summer. Visiting actors will exchange season tickets for sleeping quarters, a corner of your refrigerator and a few kind words over coffee.
The day the lights went out
Midweek storms are the best. The four Taggarts usually run different directions on weekdays. But Tuesday’s storm brought us all home by late afternoon. We played Hearts in candlelight, gasped at the branches that fell in our yard, dawdled over dinner and sat around the radio.
It was so cozy that I was almost disappointed when the power returned.
What stories will your family tell for years about North Idaho’s great ice storm? Start spinning the tales now for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; send a fax to 765-7149; call 76507128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo