Before the flowers waltz and the Sugar Plum Fairy dances in the University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ storied annual production of “The Nutcracker,” the tale begins with the liveliest of holiday parties set in the home of the Silverhaus family. The festive scene never fails to bring joy and mirth to the stage for the majority of the first act of this magnificent Triad holiday tradition. Among the families featured in the beloved party scene, you’ll find the youngest members of the cast of “The Nutcracker” each year – dancers from UNCSA’s Preparatory Dance Program.
The Preparatory Dance Program will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025 and was born thanks to Robert Lindgren, the school’s very first dean of the School of Dance. At its inception, the program “was seen as a way to reach gifted dance students in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system and other nearby areas to build a bridge into the UNCSA high school dance program,” said Monica Stephenson, who currently leads the program and is a Class of 2001 alumna of the high school dance program at the school.
The program has had just a few dance professionals at the helm in its history, with UNCSA School of Dance mainstay Dayna Fox leading it for 25 years from 1989 to 2014. Also of note, Preparatory Dance Program alumnus Matthew Donnell led this corps of young dancers from which he came from 2014-2018. The program currently works with dancers between the ages of three and 18, with formal recital performances not beginning until students reach the age of six. An impressive list of dancers who have gone through this program have gone on to have professional dance careers.
When it comes to “The Nutcracker,” being a dancer from the preparatory program and dancing in this treasured ballet is the highest of honors. The program, which currently has an enrollment of more than 100 dancers total, holds auditions for children from its Level 4 (10- to 12-year-old) dancers, a group of 15 students. In total, eight of those students were chosen to dance in this year’s production; four in each of the two casts.
But, the fun doesn’t stop there. Because of the popularity of “The Nutcracker” during the holiday season, the program also performs an abridged, narrated version of the story on campus for one weekend in December, the perfect chance for all children in the program to take part in the festive fun. The four performances, entitled “The Nutcracker Story for Young Audiences,” are wildly popular with the friends and family of dancers and sell out immediately each year. (Sadly yes, that means this year is already sold out!) “This format gives our youngest fans the perfect way to first experience ‘The Nutcracker,’” Stephenson said. “The narration explains the story to them, and its length is a bit easier to take than the longer formal production. It’s a huge hit every year!”
This program is a big one for young dancers, and the dedication, discipline and talent that they possess to be a part of it are much more adult than childlike. When those smallest dancers take their bows at the end of their “Nutcracker” performances this year, take note of the smiles on their faces – they’re usually the biggest ones.
