s. e. SCHOOL 6F CBHE ^98
THE N. C. ESSAY
North Carolina School of the Arts, Vol. 6, No. 3, January, 1972
NUTCRACKER 1971: A REVIEW
William Baskin
On December 10,11 and 12 the
School of Dance, in cooperation
with the School of Design and
Production and the Winston-
Salem Symphony Orchestra,
provided the community with
another delectable, moveable
feast in their annual production
of Tchaikowsky’s The Nut
cracker. This reviewer attended
the dress rehearsal program on
Thursday night, December 9, to
which a number of state
legislators were invited as
special guests, and the Saturday
night performance on December
11. Several of the leading roles
were covered by different dan
cers for these two programs.
Of particular note for both
performances was the splendid
pacing of the long opening
sequence. This is set in the home
of Dr. Silverhaus with the
Christmas party, arrival of the
guests, trimming of the tree and
distribution of gifts to the
children. In the past, this scene
has sometimes seemed overly
long and slow moving. This year
quite the contrary was true. One
almost regretted the end of the
party and of the festivities. The
crisp pace perhaps was due to the
presence of Duncan Noble as Dr.
Silverhaus, his wife (Janet
Hamerly), their son Fritz
(Noland Dingman, Jr.) and a
lively performance by William
Dreyer as Dr. Drosselmeyer. The
presence of these able per
formers throughout the scene
kept things moving refreshingly
and with spirit. The antics of the
young boys, with their newly
acquired dnmis and trumpets,
were especially humorous and
mischievously engineered by the
young Dingman as Fritz. A show-
stopping sequence of ex-
ceptionaUy fine quality in the
dancing of Charles Devlin (on
Thureday night) as the Toy
Soldier was a highlight of the first
half of the program. Equally
oijoyable was the fine per
formance of Lauren Eager as the
Mouse King. I have watehed Mr.
Eager develop this year into a
splendid dancer with a wide
range of accomplishments. He is
remembered for his very crisp
and excellent dancing in October
for the Evening of Dance
program in “Workout.” To this
performance in Nutcracker
Lauren has brought a very lively
interpretation of the Mouse King
whose death scene is a
remarkably funny and enjoyable
moment. The closing scene in the
firet half of the ballet is tte lovely
pas de deux of the Snow Queen
and Snow King with their
entourage of Snow Flakes. On
Thursday evening the leading
roles were danced by Janie
Parker and Jerry Tibbs. Miw
Parker, who is a stunningly
beautiful dancer, performed with
exceptional distinction and was
ably assisted by Mr. Tibbs.
Endowed with a magnificent pair
of exquisite legs and the ac-
companj^g knowledge of what
to do with them, Miss Parker
captivated the audience with her
remarkable turn out, extensions
precision and superb timing. She
has a crystalline quality that was
very much in keeping with the
OTtire scene, though her dancing
is warm, fluid and poetic and far
from marmoreal. This is
unquestionably a first-i'ate young
dancer from whom we are sure to
hear more in a short time. Her
loss to the School will be con
siderable. Unquestionably, too, is
the fact that this closi^ scene for
the first half of the program is
one of the loveliest moments in
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