Moving along
Streaming version of classic ballet to benefit dance organizations
Local ‘Nutcracker’ production pirouettes to livestream, as benefit for dance groups.
The last Christmas tree needles have been swept up and Groundhog Day is just around the corner, but a group of local dancers is determined to infuse a gray January with some belated holiday cheer. This week, after a series of roadblocks and delays, director Abbie Guisbond of Troy and her eight performers will present the virtual production, “Excerpts from ‘The Nutcracker,’” a reimagined version of the classic ballet.
“Having a ‘Nutcracker’ in January is definitely unique, but I’m really excited it’s actually happening, because it could easily have been cancelled rather than postponed,” the 23-year-old dancer/choreographer and firsttime director said in an interview last week.
The original plan was to livestream the show on Jan. 17 from the studio at Albany Dance & Fitness (ADF) on Central Avenue, home base for the production. But that was before four performers—including Guisbond—were exposed to COVID in early January, and a fifth suffered an eye injury. (None of the four were exposed during rehearsals, which were conducted with masks and social distancing, and all have tested negative since.)
With the schedule disrupted and the dancers unable to safely meet in person, Guisbond and Gail Tassarotti, owner of ADF, made a quick pivot to remote rehearsals and a new approach.
Each section of “Excerpts”—which includes seven solos and one pas de deux—is being filmed separately (by Gail’s husband, Anthony Tassarotti) to minimize the number of people in the studio at the same time, and a video link will be released to ticketholders. All proceeds will benefit the New York State Dance Force and the Capital District Dance Alliance.
“It’s wrapping up nicely, and I’m so glad we’ve been able to get everything to a point we were happy with,” Guisbond said.
“The dancers have worked so hard and I really wanted it to be a comfortable and fun experience for them.”
While this is Guisbond’s first time choreographing a “Nutcracker” and her first time in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, she has danced nearly every other part. Starting at age 10, she was
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cast annually in the Moscow Ballet’s production in her hometown of Syracuse. After graduating from SUNY Geneseo and landing a job in health consulting in Albany—as well as a teaching position at Adf—she still made time for “The Nutcracker,” appearing in the Saratoga City Ballet’s 2019 production.
So as 2020 “Nutcracker” productions were canceled one after another, Guisbond wasn’t willing to let it go.
“As someone who saw ‘The Nutcracker’ as a 3-year-old and literally knew I wanted to be a dancer because of that performance, the idea that people wouldn’t be able to see it really upset me,” she said. “Dance has been a part of my life for so long, and I wasn’t going to let anything hold me back from that.”
With Tassarotti on board, Guisbond put out a call for auditions and cast a group of amateur dancers ranging in age from 15 to 65, with a wide variety of dance experience and personal inspirations. In the role of Clara is Laura Casellini, a 23-year-old who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2011 when the vehicle she was in was hit by a drunk driver, just two days after her graduation from Columbia High School in East Greenbush. Ballet classes at ADF have been an essential part of her recovery process.
“I’ve been working with Laura on her piece, and it’s been amazing to see her transform,” Tassarotti said. “To see that amount of improvement in any student gives me such great joy, but in this case even more so.”
The production has given all of the dancers “something to look forward to, something to work towards, to take their minds off everything else,” said Tassarotti, who started out behind the scenes but ended up dancing in the show as well.
“It’s the best part of my day,” said Albany resident Maria Bortugno, 56, who performs the role of Hot Chocolate, adapted from the Spanish Dance. As a teenager, she dreamed of becoming a professional dancer, but ended up putting ballet “on the shelf ” for years before returning to it at age 39, as a way to heal from a difficult divorce.
“When you’re dancing ballet, there’s no room for anything else, you have to focus so intensely on what you’re doing,” she said. Being part of the “The Nutcracker” has strengthened her both emotionally and physically, she added. “I’m doing turns and jumps that I couldn’t have dreamed of doing a year ago. It’s the most hopeful experience I’ve had during COVID.”
For Eric Meichtry, father of three (soon to be four) and owner of Leo’s Overhead Doors in Troy, dancing is “a way to blow off steam and get some exercise while doing something beautiful,” says his wife, Valerie, who first introduced him to ballet 15 years ago. It also allows him to tap into what he most enjoyed in his previous career as a cargo pilot.
“I loved that movement and freedom, and this is a simpler way to get that feeling,” said Meichtry, who plays the Nutcracker in the production.
As for Guisbond, the process, with all its ups and down, “has reminded me why I started dancing—it makes me who I am and helps me keep going every day,” she said. “This has turned out to be such a growing and learning experience for me as a dancer, a teacher and an artist.”