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Ballet Leaps Into Holiday

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By JESSICA BAIR, The Suncoast News

Published: December 11, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - A young German girl named Clara receives a gift of a wooden nutcracker, shaped like a toy soldier, at the family Christmas party.

Broken by her jealous brother Fritz, the nutcracker is repaired by her godfather Herr Drosselmeyer.

After the guests depart, Clara creeps back downstairs to check on her beloved gift and falls asleep with it in her arms.

What unfolds next is a dream world of dance, music, colorful costumes and wintry scenery in Alexander Dumas' adaptation of the classic Tchaikovsky ballet, director Gillian Davis said.

Expressions, a nonprofit dance company, will stage its annual production of "The Nutcracker" at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at the Center for the Arts at River Ridge Middle/High School, 11646 Town Center Road.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for children 10 and younger. Call (727) 842-8175 or (727) 967-8225.

Students from 20 public, private, parochial and home schools will compose the cast of 100 dancers who dwell in the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Some of the dancers will don costumes representing Arab nations, China and Spain.

The cast also features professional guest artists Deborah Buttner as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Eriberto Jimerez as the Cavalier.

Sharing the role of Clara are Elena Krischunas and Kristina League, who have danced to Davis' choreography for nine years. The two have been friends since preschool. Elena attends River Ridge Middle while Kristina goes to Genesis Preparatory School.

Girls and boys 9 and older from Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando and Hillsborough counties are involved with Expressions. During the year, they perform at community functions, retirement centers, local theaters and schools.

Expressions is based at the Centre for Dance, Drama and Music in the Ridge Road Center at 6646/6648 Ridge Road, Port Richey. Besides ballet, the studio offers classes in pointe, jazz, tap, hip-hop, acrobatics, Irish tap, modern, belly dancing, song and theater.

Davis, who runs the center, danced professionally with the Royal Ballet, London and with the Rhodesian National Ballet. She taught dance, choreographed performances and owned schools elsewhere before coming to Florida. Davis also is a member of The Royal Academy of Dance, described as the world's largest examining and teaching organization in classical ballet.

For information on "The Nutcracker," the studio and Expressions, go to www.portricheydance.com.

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