A Sweet Treat With No Calories: Santa Clara Ballet's Annual Nutcracker
By Carolyn Schuk
With all the tempting sweets on offer during the holidays, it's nice to know that there's one that you can enjoy as much as much as you like without worrying about fitting into your clothes come January. It's Santa Clara Ballet's annual full-length Nutcracker, now in its 35th year, under the direction of its founder and artistic director, Josefa Villanueva-Reyes.
Originally from the Philippines, Villanueva-Reyes and her husband, the late Benjamin Reyes, danced and taught in San Francisco in the 1960s. Villanueva-Reyes’ background includes stints with he Celeste Ballet of San Francisco, the San Francisco Opera Ballet, and the San Francisco Ballet.
In 1972 the couple moved to Santa Clara where they established the Santa Clara Ballet School, one of the City's only two ballet schools.
The company’s annual Nutcracker production lets students, young dancers, and even non-dancers get on stage and work with professionals, Villanueva-Reyes explains. The company conducts open auditions that draw dancers from all over the Bay Area.
Villanueva-Reyes encourages entire families get into the act. “We have generations of dancers and family relations abound," says Board Member Marite Paras of Santa Clara," making the entire ballet one real family.”
For example, one of this year's two Claras, Aundria Giardina, comes from a third generation Santa Clara Ballet family. Aundria's mother Rheanna Giardina has danced with the company since she was a child. She’ll be dancing this year along with her daughter. Aundria's grandmother, Maryanne Santos, also took classes with the Santa Clara Ballet and has performed in past Nutcrackers.
There are other mother/daughter duos as well in the Nutcracker cast: - Tracy and Kayla Vaskelis, Molly Barber and Catherine Klicek, and Carla and Victoria Wilson.
"What makes the Santa Clara Ballet's production unique is that it is so family-oriented and the talents are home-grown," explains Paras. "Dancers start as little girls progressing on to advanced roles."
"My daughter Katherine started in 2000 when she was six years old," she continues. "She was an angel and a Chinese doll. In 2004 and 2005, she was Clara. From Clara, she took on the Mechanical Doll role and became one of the Chinese soloists. This year she's a snowflake, a flower and a ribbon candy. Katherine's cousin, Michelle Mallari, is also in the cast."
This year’s production also features Santa Clara native and San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwestern Ballet veteran Andre Reyes as the Cavalier. Most recently Reyes was a guest artist with the Lawrence Pech Dance Company in San Francisco. His work has appeared on TV's Dance in America's series as well as other televised dance productions. Reyes, who began his dance training with his mother, Villanueva-Reyes, says that he’s "lost count" of the number of Nutcrackers he’s done.
Cincinnati native Amy Seiwart is this year's Sugar Plum Fairy. A former principal dancer with the Sacramento Ballet, Seiwart currently performs and choreographs for San Francisco's Smuin Ballet. Reed Tankersly takes the honors this year as the Nutcracker Prince.
Santa Clara Ballet’s Nutcracker is playing Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 14, at 1 p.m. & 5 p.m. at the Santa Clara Convention Center Theatre, 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara. Tickets are $18 to $28.50. To buy tickets or for more information, visit www.santaclaraballet.org, call (408) 247-9178, or email scballet@bigfoot.com.
Carolyn Schuk can be reached at cschuk@earthlink.net
