Ballet dancer shines in “The Nutcracker”
Rebecca Nugent returns to Humboldt County to perform in 'The Nutcracker'
Nugent returns to Humboldt to perform. Send Good News contributions to reporters@ times-standard.com
This holiday season, Rebecca Nugent performed two different roles in two different productions of “The Nutcracker” in two different cities.
The 25-year-old dancer portrayed Clara in New Ballet’s “The San Jose Nutcracker” in the Bay Area from Dec. 18 to 22. Before that, Nugent — a former Arcata resident — traveled back to Humboldt County, where she was the Sugar Plum Fairy in North Coast Dance’s first weekend run of “The Nutcracker” from Dec. 10 to 12 at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts in Eureka. (Isabella Buckman, who is attending Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, was the Sugar Plum Fairy for the production’s second weekend.)
Nugent said, “When I was asked if I would be interested in guesting (with North Coast Dance), I replied yes without any hesitation, because I wanted to give back to a community that got me to where I am now.”
The road to the stage has been a long one for Nugent, who was born 2 months premature in the small town of Bishoftu in Ethiopia.
“Due to the lack of hospital access my birth mother died after giving birth to me,” Nugent said. “… My birth grandmother tried to take me to the hospital. I remember her telling me that they were shocked (that) I was still alive. … I am not sure what she did, but I survived.
“At around age 2, my grandmother (got very ill and) had to give me up to the nearest orphanage because she could no longer care for me as she was already struggling to take care of herself,” Nugent said. “From then on, I bounced back and forth from orphanage to orphanage. I went hungry a lot as a child.”
More than 9,000 miles away, Timothy and Tami Nugent, social workers living in Elk Grove at the time, were looking to adopt a child. They first saw Nugent’s photo when she was a toddler several decades ago.
“My parents had been wanting to adopt and, after many searches, one day they stumbled on my picture and my parents tell me this story of how they both looked at the picture and said, ‘That’s our daughter.’”
Due to several circumstances — including issues at the orphanage, a war involving Ethiopia and Ethiopian adoption rules and restrictions, it took nearly eight years for the couple to finalize the adoption.
“During the time my adoption was finalized, there was a war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, so it was dangerous for people from another country to fly in,” Nugent said. “I ended up being accompanied (to the U.S. by) the orphanage director’s son. We landed in San Francisco where my dad was waiting for me.”
The Nugents brought their new 9-year-old daughter home to the city of Elk Grove, near Sacramento, where she was initially homeschooled as she learned the English language and more about U.S. culture.
Nugent also began dancing in earnest once she arrived in the United States, though she’d enjoyed creative movement and music even as a young child in Ethiopia.
“Prior to coming to the U.S., as an orphanage we would use dancing as a celebration for someone who was getting adopted,” she said. “The adults would provide the food and drinks and the kids would get together to throw a going-away party. The party always consisted of a group dance and some sort of storytelling by acting (in) a play we would write.”
Nugent said, “When I first moved to America and my parents made me aware that there’s a place specifically for people who wanted to dance, I was blown away. I first started with hip-hop, tap and jazz. It wasn’t until my hip-hop teacher told me how beneficial ballet would be for my dancing and posture that I took my very first ballet class.”
Nugent says she took a couple of ballet classes then but, “I didn’t have the same appreciation for it at the time nor did I feel like it was as welcoming. Being a person of color in the ballet world is hard and, though I did not fully understand that at the time, something didn’t feel right. Now I realize it wasn’t a battle I was ready for (then),” she said.
When Nugent was 15, her family moved to Humboldt County, and the teen started attending Alder Grove Charter School in Eureka. A year later, Nugent decided to try ballet again through North Coast Dance, a nonprofit devoted to promoting dance education and performance in Eureka.
She says she fell in love with ballet wholeheartedly at that time.
“Although I faced many challenges, the love I had for it was so strong, there was no way I was going to just give up,” she said. “… As soon as I was able to, I took multiple classes a day and focused more on what I could learn rather than what I have lost. I still continue to struggle with feeling ‘behind,’ but all you can do is put in the work every day and let the results speak for themselves.”
Nugent soon appeared in her first “Nutcracker” performance with North Coast Dance, taking on the role of an angel and performing in “Russian Dance.”
By the time she was 19 or 20, she became an instructor and company dancer at North Coast Dance.
“She progressed very quickly — came into the studio early to work alone and left late,” said Eliza Klinger, managing director for North Coast Dance. “She taught Ballet 1, Ballet 4’s pointe, adult ballet and hip-hop. In 2020, when we were required to go all virtual, I reached out to Rebecca to teach our hip-hop classes over Zoom. Her students love her.”
Nugent’s ballet world expanded again in 2019, when she moved to San Jose to join The New Ballet as a company dancer. Nugent first danced in The New Ballet’s “Nutcracker” production two years ago.
“My first year I was in the snow and flower corps, I was also a “Waltzing Bougainvillea,’ typically known as Spanish. Lastly and probably the most fun and unique role I have played was the tap-dancing grandma in the party scene, which was a role created for me because I was one of the few females in the company that could tap dance,” she said.
Klinger says when Nugent moved to San Jose, everyone at North Coast Dance was excited for her new opportunity.
“They have very strong instructors, and we knew that would be a good move for Rebecca,” Klinger said. “We threw her a huge going-away party and board members came and spoke. As a studio, we invested a great deal in Rebecca as a dancer and person and we rallied behind her as she stepped out into the larger ballet world. Tears were shed.”
After a year off from live performances because of the COVID-19 health crisis, Nugent returned to the stage this month in “The Nutcracker” both in San
Jose and Eureka. She was happy to return to Humboldt County to perform with North Coast Dance.
“This year has been a whirlwind of emotions,” Nugent said. “The pandemic took away a whole year’s worth of training properly and most of all, performing opportunities from dance communities and companies all over the world. … What I did not realize was the emotional and physical strength it would take to not only return to the stage to perform ‘The Nutcracker’ after a year of not being on stage, but to also do it with a live audience with a mask on and playing the role of Sugar Plum, was a lot.”
She added: “Because of the loving and family oriented environment North Coast Dance has built, it was ultimately the best way to kick off the ‘Nutcracker’ season.”
Klinger says North Coast Dance asked Nugent to come back to the county to perform because, “We’d kept in touch and knew what strength she was continuing to gain as a ballerina in San Jose. We also wanted our current dancers to have the gift of working with her again. Rebecca was a beloved member of our company and school, and former students and company members alike were very excited to have her back even if it was for only a short time.
“Both of our visiting artists, Rebecca and Isabella Buckman, boosted morale,” Klinger said. “It’s powerful to see someone you shared a dance floor with making a living as a dancer out in the larger world and/or pursuing dance as a career. It shows our students it’s … attainable, and to be a professional dancer and be a kind, good person is also possible. It’s not just to succeed, it’s important to be a role model to your fellow dancers. It’s a very difficult career, physically and mentally. It’s easy to lose motivation and confidence. Seeing that someone you know is getting up every day and putting on their pointe shoes — especially through this pandemic — helps strengthen your resolve.”
Klinger says she cried watching Nugent dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy on opening night.
“She was breathtaking,” Klinger said. “… Seeing Rebecca back on stage at the Arkley Center felt like a huge success for Rebecca and for North Coast Dance. The students she taught and the dancers she danced beside in our company cheered her on and also expressed a great sense of joy for having her home and pride in seeing her perform again.”