The Nutcracker: a party to remember

Ellie Eikenburg, a fourth grader at St. John’s School, said the best part of The Nutcracker was being with the other dancers right before they went on stage. (Photo: Amitava Sarkar)

I have been at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy for seven years, starting at the age of 3. I first saw The Nutcracker with my grandmother at the age of 2. My grandmother has always taken me to ballets. It’s just special time with my grandmother, so it’s just always been fun for me.

When I was 4, I made a promise to a friend of mine, Catherine Huang, who also lives in West University and is in my fourth-grade class at St. John’s School, that we would one day be in The Nutcracker together. Last year we both performed in The Nutcracker for the first time, and this year we performed in the same cast. From this Nutcracker experience, I know dreams are not only in fantasy. I can accomplish anything if I have a plan. To get a role as a party child I had to audition. Last year was my first audition. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was a little nervous. When I got into the room, we all had numbers pinned to our chests – and we danced how they asked us to. It wasn’t that bad.

This year I wasn’t too nervous. If you went to see my cast of The Nutcracker, you could hardly see me on stage. I was one of 147 students from Houston Ballet Academy taking the stage in six of the 34 shows at the Wortham Center. My favorite part was the beginning. It wasn’t being on stage. It was waiting to get on stage when my friends and I got all excited. We were talking, and we were trying to remember our cues. Being with friends is the fun part, sharing the dressing room with the rats and the clowns and the other party children. The last little bit of fun is the day or so after a performance when a neighbor or a school friend tells me they saw my performance and they enjoyed the ballet.  I feel good knowing that I had a small part in bringing the Christmas season to them.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to [email protected]. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, TX 77401.