The audience lights dim. The conductor raises his baton and the orchestra swells. The curtain rises and the show begins.

Every year, Nolte Academy performs the ballet of The Nutcracker in early December at the Englert Theater in downtown Iowa City. It is a huge tradition for the community and many West High students are a part of the show each year and it means different things to different people. From the choir, to the dancers, to the director, so many people get involved to make this classic ballet come to life.

This holiday performance follows the story of Clara, a young girl, when her Uncle Drosselmeyer gifts her a nutcracker on Christmas Eve. She falls asleep and has a dream where her nutcracker comes to life and leads her on a magical journey to the Land of Sweets. There she is performed for by candies from around the world and their queen, the Sugar Plum Fairy. 

“It’s important because it showcases the talent of dancers and musicians in the area that often go unrecognized for their talent,” said Tatum Calderwood ‘22, a student at Liberty High School who was involved in the Nutcracker through the Iowa City Girls Choir when she was in elementary school. Each year, the choir takes a select group of girls and sings during the snow scene of the Nutcracker, to close act one of the show. Calderwood’s favorite part of the show was meeting new friends through the choir and being part of an ensemble that loves singing as much as she does. She still loves to come to see the show each year, seeing her old choir director and a new set of singers, as well as many of her friends who perform in the show.

“It brings a lot of people who aren’t really connected to the dance environment to see a show that so many professional companies do. Without Nolte’s Nutcracker we wouldn’t have the tradition here,” says Abigail Schley ‘22, a dancer at Nolte Academy. Schley has been apart of Nolte’s Nutcracker for five years and has had many roles in that short time, from a flower, to the queen of the snowflakes, to even leads like Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Schley says her favorite role to perform was Clara because she finds even the smallest details fascinating and Schley feels she can relate to her because of that.

But behind the curtain, things can happen that the audience could never know. Costumes could get ruined or a dancer could miss an entrance, but the performers keep on going. These mistakes end up being funny memories for them to look back on. 

“During warm up, we were just doing our thing, you know, taking classes, and a bat flew in, and was flying around all our heads and it was really scary, but it was really funny later. We nicknamed the bat Stella,” Schley said.

Nolte Academy has performed The Nutcracker for many years, doing the same choreography each time. However, the past two years have changed by the introduction of a new director.

“Many student dancers don’t get to work with a live orchestra and it really makes a big difference in the quality of the performance. The Nutcracker is a great way for the community to kick off their holiday season,” says Mauro Villanueva, Nolte Academy’s ballet and Nutcracker director.  Villanueva was a professional dancer at the Joffrey Ballet in Texas for 13 years and participated in their Nutcracker for eight years. 

“The best part was being able to watch the lead male dancers who came to dance with the lead female dancers,” Villanueva says, “As one of two male students we only had each other to challenge each other so those guest dancers made us want to work harder.” 

After moving to Iowa, Villanueva continues to carry on this annual holiday tradition in his year at Nolte. The hardest part for him is the limited time to rehearse. Especially for the younger dancers, retaining the choreography is difficult and when there is little time left before the performances, rehearsals must be used wisely. But of course there are amazing parts too. 

“My favorite part about Nutcracker is seeing all the students’ hard work pay off come performance time. It’s very rewarding to hear the audience applaud and celebrate the dancers,” says Villanueva.

The annual performance is just around the corner. This year’s performances are Dec. 6-8 and tickets can be purchased at englert.org, so don’t miss it.