Goodrich -As the familiar strains of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker? float above the orchestra pit, dancers mentally rehearse their steps.
This year Erica Ricketts of Goodrich will don a red gown in the Russian dance.
Ricketts, 13, is among the dancers of the Flint School of Performing Arts joining the Harlem Theatre of Dance in the traditional Christmas ballet.
The Nutcracker, a story about a girl named Clara who’s given a nutcracker as a gift, traces her fantastic Christmas Eve dream as the toy grows larger than life, battling giant mice before journeying to the lands of snow and sweets.
Erica was drawn to ballet at the age of 7 after attending preschool and instrument lessons at the Flint Institute of Music.
‘It’s better to get into it when you’re young,? she says.
She credits FIM’s Artistic Director Karen Mills Jennings for sticking with ballet.
‘She’s really helped to keep me in dance.?
For Erica, who gave up softball and basketball for the intense training of ballet, the allure of dance isn’t the music.
It isn’t about wearing leotards, or tutus, or even elaborate costumes.
To her, ballet is about being on stage.
As next weekend’s production draws near, the eighth-grader will be practicing 20 hours a week, like she has for the past six years during Nutcracker rehearsals.
But Christmas wouldn’t be the same without the increasingly hectic flurry of school, homework, ballet class, rehearsals stretching into entire evenings until her routine snowballs into the grand production.
She hangs in there, knowing when it’s over, Christmas will come.
Erica knows the steps by heart.
Once out of the chilly dressing rooms and on stage, the young dancer warms to the lights, to the music.
There are only a few faces to be seen in the darkened audience. Those beyond the fifth row are a mystery to the dancers.
The orchestra plays.
A lady hums along.
Erica dances.
Remember to smile, she tells herself.
Applause.
Even before the dance is finished, applause.It’s the best sound dancers can hope for.
With her team all together on their playing field, this is Erica’s sport of choice.
The practices, the rehearsals, the camaraderie.
Someday, Erica knows, she won’t be in dance any more.
Someday, she’ll be walking through a mall in November, December, and hear this music again.
Someday, when she’s grown and working, maybe for the CIA, Erica thinks this will help remind Erica of her team.
And how Christmas comes after it’s done.