While there are many holiday traditions going on in the community at this time year, Ballet Cheseapeke invites people to join them as they present their adaptation of The Nutcracker at Towson University, Saturday, December 11, at 1:00pm or 6:00pm and again on Sunday, December 12, at 1-3pm. 

       The Nutcracker is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a girl who makes friends with a nutcracker that only comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King.  The plot revolves around a little German girl whos name is Clara Stahlbaum and her coming of age one Christmas holiday.

     Sophomore Kaitlyn Calland  is performing in the production of this show at Towson.   She will appear  in the dances titled Snow, Marzipan and Flowers. 

      Calland said, “I enjoy the ballet part of the dance more than the acting. I am definitely better at the ballet part more than acting.“ She said there are different acts which consist of different types of dancing. In  one of the acts she participated as a backup dancer for a main soloist.

        She added, “So when you are younger, you have to audition, but at my dance company [Ballet Chesapeake], once you get into the company, they automatically cast you for it and based off of how good you are, they will cast you in certain roles.” 

  She adds that they “start rehearsals in September and then we rehearse all the way up, and our show is next week…” and that she does ballet every day except for Sunday.

   The sophomore says that dance can be a  lot of pressure,  preparing for the play means that Calland practices every day, “because it is every day so sometimes it’s hard to balance things all at the same time.”  

        Calland says she is not anxious for the play. “I am honestly not too nervous about it, but I think I will be nervous right before we go on stage.”  She also says she  gets pretty nervous right before she is performing, “especially if it is a small group of people…”

   The sophomore  said she started ballet when she was very  young. “I started ballet when I was just three or something when my mom put me in it, and I just stuck with it.”