A Rio Grande Valley Christmas Tradition
‘The Nutcracker’ celebrates 52 years of annual performances
The Deborah Case Dance Academy presents their ballet performance of ‘ The Nutcracker’ to the Rio Grande Valley accompanied by a live orchestra Dec. 14 and 15 at the McAllen Performing Arts Center.
Starting as a teacher in 1979 then buying the company off her employer, Doria Avila in 1993. Artistic director of the Rio Grande Valley Ballet, Deborah Cases’ inspiration to keep his tradition going is focused on the dancers “love of classical ballet”.
The yearly performance of the ‘The Nutcracker’ has been a holiday staple of the valley since 1972. Artistic director of the RGV Ballet, Deborah Case, originally started as a dance teacher in 1979 and eventually purchased the company in 1993 from former owner, Doria Avila.
Case cited the dancers’ “love of classical ballet” as the inspiration to keep the tradition of the performance going.
“They value what it does for their mind, for their body, for their soul, for learning Russian technique ballet, classical ballet techniques,” said Case.
Over the years Case kept some of Avila’s original choreography to make it nostalgic for former dancers and refreshing for the audience.
“The dancers that started out in 1972 can come back, watch the show today and they’ll recognize some of the choreography… it’s timeless,” said Veronica Barrera, co-director of The Deborah Case Dance Academy.
Director of orchestral activities at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Norman Gamboa, has conducted ‘The Nutcracker’ performance with various ballet companies and other orchestras for 20 years.
“For me, this is always fun to do because it kind of puts you in that holiday mood…plus it’s fantastic music,” said Gamboa.
Contributing to this community tradition under Gamboa are musicians that he knows are “skill[ed]” in orchestra.
According to Gamboa, the performances are incredibly demanding on the body, requiring skilled musicians to handle the complex level of technicality on top of playing non stop for 90 minutes.
“It requires a significantly higher level of skill to be able to do it, since I know the people, I know how they play,” he said.
Set in 1892 in Saint Petersburg, Russia on Christmas Eve, the emotions of the dancers alongside the music is another element that helps tell ‘The Nutcracker’ story.
“It’s [the dancers] responsibility to make sure that the movement matches the story,” said Barrera. “We’re talking up the story to them as they’re dancing so they understand what to portray.”
Dancers from different companies and from all ages can audition for a role in the show. For Case’s students, however, auditions are held in class every day.
“We used to do separate days, but that was too nerve wracking for the dancers,” said Case, “They would cry that it was their worst performance ever so we dropped having an audition day.”
Case makes it a priority to let her dancers know that “casting does not define them.” She “tweaks” routines to match each dancer’s skill set and encourages them to “always do more.”
Gamboa’s musicians only get together to practice four times and do two run-through rehearsals with the dancers.
“It’s not a full time engagement,” said Gamboa. “There is always going to be that you wish you had more rehearsal time, but reality is the financial aspect… availability”
Gamboa wants the audience to see the “great talent” students represent in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Resources here in town produce performances that typically you will get in big sites like Houston and San Antonio,” he added.
The ballet company intends to create a performance that makes the audience “walk away feeling like they really were entertained”, said Case. “[That] they saw valley children doing things that they didn’t think were possible to do.”
To purchase tickets to the Nutcracker visit event tickets center.com
