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Syracuse City Ballet Returns for Nutcracker Season Syracuse City Ballet Returns for Nutcracker Season

By Louise Rath

SOUND OF NUTCRACKER MUSIC AND FEET HITTING FLOORS

LOUISE RATH: The studios at the Syracuse City Ballet are filled with sounds of Christmastime… and dancers working on this holiday classic…

SOUND FROM “DANCE OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY”

REYNU WOOD: I actually do turn off a little bit and let the music take over.

RATH: Reynu Wood has been dancing since she was three years old.

WOOD: Mom just kind of put me in ballet because she thought it would be cute to see me in a tutu.

RATH: 17 years later, she’s turned her love for dance into a career.

WOOD: Here I am at 20 years old, a company artist with the Syracuse City Ballet.

RATH: She knew she wanted to dance professionally when she first played Clara in a production of the Nutcracker.

WOOD: I remember having this feeling on stage of this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing”

RATH: This year, Wood will get to play Clara once again, and put all of her hours of hard work here on display…

RATH:… right here at Crouse Hinds theater this weekend…

WOOD: Just being able to hear the music again and go through the different characters is so fun.

RATH: But this year, the Syracuse City Ballet’s Nutcracker story will be slightly different from the one Wood grew up with

ALDOKATTON SANTIAGO:The Nutcracker is a piece that allows you to be more creative. And you can go in very different ways to approach the story.

RATH: AldoKatton Santiago is re-choreographing traditional nutcracker dances that portrayed dancers from around the world in a seemingly unfair light.

SANTIAGO: I’m still using the music, but I made all of them royalty.

RATH: Santiago is in his first year as artistic director, and he prides himself on training a diverse group of professionals.

SANTIAGO: I have dancers from Mexico, from Korea, from the States, of course, the ballet master from Puerto Rico. So yeah, I’m really happy.

RATH: And while some dances are being changed for the better, the industry’s love for this holiday classic—will never fade. Louise Rath, N-C-C News…

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Dancers at the Syracuse City Ballet are back in the studios rehearsing Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” for the first time since 2019.

The company had to cancel their 2020 performance due to COVID-19, and company artist Reynu Wood said she’s excited to be back in the theater.

“Just being able to hear the music again and go through the different characters is so fun,” Wood said.

Wood, 20, has been dancing for 17 years. She knew she wanted to dance professionally when she first played the role of “Clara” in a production of “The Nutcracker.”

“I remember having this feeling on stage of this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing,” she said.

“The Nutcracker” means so much to dancers like Wood, but Syracuse City Ballet’s Artistic Director AldoKattón Santiago had some different plans for this year’s production.

“‘The Nutcracker’ is a piece that allows you to be more creative,” Santiago said. “And you can go in very different ways to approach the story.”

Santiago decided to change the choreography of dances portraying characters from Spain, China, Russia, and Arabia.

He said the traditional dances portrayed these characters in an unfair light.

“I’m still using the music,” Santiago said. “But I made all of them royalty.”

Santiago is in his first year as the company’s artistic director, and he’s proud of the diversity he’s developed in the company.

“I have dancers from Mexico, from Korea, from the States, of course, and the ballet master from Puerto Rico,” he said. “So yeah, I’m really happy.”

The Syracuse City Ballet will put on three Nutcracker performances this weekend at the OnCenter’s Crouse-Hinds Theater.

There will be two shows on Saturday, one at 11 a.m. and one at 3 p.m., and one show on Sunday at 2 p.m..

 

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