EDMONDS — There will be dancing snowflakes, there will be a Mouse King, little buffoons will come from beneath Mother Ginger’s skirt, the tree will grow.
Olympic Ballet Theater’s 2011 production of “The Nutcracker” will have all the magic of past productions. However, this year Mara Vinson and Oleg Gorboulev, the company’s new artistic directors, are adding their signatures.
This season’s performances have been rechoreographed by Vinson and Gorboulev following the battle scene. They estimate that for every minute of performance time, it takes one hour to choreograph a number.
Preparations have been well underway for weeks for this year’s holiday tradition, which opened in Arlington on Dec. 4. Upcoming performances at the Everett Performing Arts Center will be Dec. 10 and 11, and at Edmonds Center for the Arts on Dec. 17 and 18. School matinees also are slated for Dec. 9 in Everett and Dec. 16 in Edmonds.
Marshalling more than 100 cast members and 100 volunteers is a lot of work, Vinson said, but come opening night it will all be worth it.
OBT was nurtured for 30 years by Helen Wilkins and her late husband, John. Helen retired, handing over the company to Vinson and Gorboulev earlier this year.
In addition to the dance company, Vinson and Gorboulev inherited the ballet school, which is based in Edmonds at the Frances Anderson Center.
Students in the ballet school range in age from 3 to adults. The core group of dancers, from which many are selected for the company’s performances, are 14 to 20 years old.
“We are all learning by doing,” Vinson said. “Our students have a good work ethic. They are improving every day. The choreography for ‘The Nutcracker’ is certainly pushing them.”
Wilkins is staging the party scene and the battle scene for this year’s production.
Principal dancers are Vinson, as the adult Clara during the girl’s dream, and Le Yim, as the prince. Yim has performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Houston Ballet, and previously with OBT.
Vinson and Gorboulev, who are married, met while they were dancing with PNB. Vinson was teaching classes at OBT and Gorboulev was an OBT student as part of his recovery program for a dance injury.
Before joining PNB, Vinson danced in California. Gorboulev, originally from Moscow, came to the Seattle company through Indianapolis.
They took over the company last season, in time to mount “Coppélia” in April.
“It was a great opportunity to meet the dancers, the board, the audience and the parents,” Gorboulev said. “Going through the production we became very comfortable with our new positions.”
“It feels like we have always been here,” Vinson said.
Live music is just one of the signature stamps Vinson and Gorboulev will be putting on upcoming ballets.
The duo’s next fete will be “Peter and the Wolf” with the Cascade Symphony Orchestra on Feb. 25 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts.
Then the company will perform selections from “The Sleeping Beauty” April 14 and 22. Those performances will additionally feature an original score by Charles Griffes, performed by the Seattle Chamber Players, which will be completely choreographed by OBT’s new artistic directors.
‘The Nutcracker’
WHAT: Olympic Ballet Theater performs the holiday classic under new artistic directors Mara Vinson and Oleg Gorboulev.
WHEN: Dec. 10-11 (Everett), Dec. 17-18 (Edmonds)
WHERE: Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave.
Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N
TICKETS: $30, $25 seniors and students, $20 children age 10 and younger, available at www.olympicballet.com or 425-774-7570
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