Rose basketball highlights
Issue 1
September 27th, 2019
Rampants perform in NCADA Nutcracker
SUN. | 12-19-21 | NEWS
The Nutcracker ballet has been performed by the North Carolina Academy of Dance Arts Theater (NCADA) for almost 40 years. The NCADA has performed the nutcracker at Wright Auditorium during Christmas time, and attending the ballet has grown into a Greenville tradition.
The Nutcracker was made into a ballet in 1892 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The Nutcracker has been around for many generations and has been made a Christmas tradition for many. The nutcracker is a story about a girl who goes on a journey with her toy nutcracker, fighting rat kings and going into a candyland.
Peyton Cowin is a junior at Rose who dances for NCADA. Her parts are the columbine doll, party scene, snow and flowers, mirliton and candy cane.
“The Nutcracker is an opportunity for our studio as a group to dance and raise money for the Children's Miracle Network ," Cowin said. "Every ticket purchase and all the money raised is then donated to the Children's Miracle Network.”
The Nutcracker has contributed more than $225,000 to the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals of Eastern North Carolina.
Tickets can be purchased through the NCADA website and ECU’s ticket box on ECU’s campus. Tickets are $32.00-$40.00, and this year the performance dates are December 11th and 12th. On Saturday, there will be a 2 o’clock show and a 7 o’clock show, and on Sunday there is a 2 o'clock show.
Sophie Chiancone is a sophomore at Rose and is performing in the NCADA. Her parts include girl in party, snow and flowers, lady of the court, candy cane and arabian.
Photo contributed by NCADA
“I think a lot of people are going to want to come because they couldn't go last year and it's like a tradition a lot of people have.” says Chiancone.
The Nutcracker is a tradition in many places, people come from all over the world to watch the ballets. The soundtrack for the Nutcracker is popular at Christmas time. The New York City Ballet made the soundtrack in 1993.
With Covid around times have been quite different. Due to COVID-19 the dancers have been practicing in masks making it difficult to breathe.
“Every single rehearsal we've had is in masks," Cowin said. "It really takes a lot of energy and it's harder to breathe and you lose energy a lot faster".
The NCADA is a year round dance studio, but for the holidays they like to put on a nice ballet to get everyone in the mood for Christmas. The NCADA offers classes starting at 2 years old.
“We started [practicing] in October, and we've had practice everyday for 5 hours," says Chiancone.
NCADA did have to take a break from this production because in 2020 due to Covid and the restrictions they had to call it off, the NCADA could not practice as well and did online zoom classes, which was hard for many of the dancers.
"Unless you have full access to a ballet bar or like a studio then it's really hard to do the movement in your house, " says Cowin.
But despite the hard times the NCADA has made this year's ballet happen, and we are all happy to see it back in business.
