Washington Ballet Nutcracker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what qualities they're looking for for the party scene? Dancing ability? Acting? Smile? Height?

There was a thread about this a couple years ago (preCOVID) where it was intimated that being the kid of a big donor was the best way to get the coveted party girl role.

My daughter was a party girl three years in a row. She is an excellent dancer. She was the best in her level. And I am a single mom making 56k a year.

My daughter was a party girl as a 1A. She is a strong dancer and takes direction well but we definitely are not donors. This year she was cast as little clown/party boy.

If your daughter is littlest clown, she’s more than a strong dancer. That role is a show favorite and is in the finale. Your daughter must be a strong dancer, but also acrobatic and she clearly has great stage personality. Congrats.

Thanks! We are really proud of her. She is over the moon at being cast as little clown. She is Level 2. She is really acrobatic and spent the last year watching/rewatching the Nutcracker that streamed last year learning the little clown part.

Congratulations! She should be so proud. This is a shining example of a non-“rigged” casting result from a combination of talent, dedication, and hard work. She will have so much fun with this role.

Do you really think its ever been "rigged"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what qualities they're looking for for the party scene? Dancing ability? Acting? Smile? Height?

There was a thread about this a couple years ago (preCOVID) where it was intimated that being the kid of a big donor was the best way to get the coveted party girl role.

My daughter was a party girl three years in a row. She is an excellent dancer. She was the best in her level. And I am a single mom making 56k a year.

My daughter was a party girl as a 1A. She is a strong dancer and takes direction well but we definitely are not donors. This year she was cast as little clown/party boy.

If your daughter is littlest clown, she’s more than a strong dancer. That role is a show favorite and is in the finale. Your daughter must be a strong dancer, but also acrobatic and she clearly has great stage personality. Congrats.

Thanks! We are really proud of her. She is over the moon at being cast as little clown. She is Level 2. She is really acrobatic and spent the last year watching/rewatching the Nutcracker that streamed last year learning the little clown part.

Congratulations! She should be so proud. This is a shining example of a non-“rigged” casting result from a combination of talent, dedication, and hard work. She will have so much fun with this role.

Do you really think its ever been "rigged"?

I’m the PP. I put rigged in quotations because that’s the prevalent accusation. We were with Washington ballet for 4 years and, aside from Julie Kent’s daughter, I haven’t seen any casting “rigging” at all. In fact, I’ve only seen the opposite. Situations like the little clown poster above. TWBS has a lot of issues and we had our problems with the school, but nutcracker casting was never one of our grievances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the same but with a different name/twist. For example: Polichinelles = Clowns, Dolls are dolls = Dont most studios have Raggedy Ann, Andy and Teddy Bear? TWSB is a huge school, but the roles are limited because most of the roles, including Clara are either professional trainees or professionals. It wasnt always that way. I recall dancers 14, 16 years old within the school playing Clara.

Way back in the Mary Day era, Clara was a young teen, 13 or 14 max, usually from the class that had been on pointe for a year or so, iirc. A plum role, but it went to a girl who was still at the stage just before deciding to go on release time in the preprofessional track. Typically an 8th grader. Other roles were party kids, rats, and soldiers. Hoops, dolls, etc. were advanced/preprofessional student roles. One year I was cast as a rat and then they realized they'd cast all of the party girls too small for the costumes (which were already ancient by then), so they recast and made all the smallest rats back into the largest party girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what qualities they're looking for for the party scene? Dancing ability? Acting? Smile? Height?

There was a thread about this a couple years ago (preCOVID) where it was intimated that being the kid of a big donor was the best way to get the coveted party girl role.

My daughter was a party girl three years in a row. She is an excellent dancer. She was the best in her level. And I am a single mom making 56k a year.

My daughter was a party girl as a 1A. She is a strong dancer and takes direction well but we definitely are not donors. This year she was cast as little clown/party boy.

If your daughter is littlest clown, she’s more than a strong dancer. That role is a show favorite and is in the finale. Your daughter must be a strong dancer, but also acrobatic and she clearly has great stage personality. Congrats.

Thanks! We are really proud of her. She is over the moon at being cast as little clown. She is Level 2. She is really acrobatic and spent the last year watching/rewatching the Nutcracker that streamed last year learning the little clown part.

Congratulations! She should be so proud. This is a shining example of a non-“rigged” casting result from a combination of talent, dedication, and hard work. She will have so much fun with this role.

Do you really think its ever been "rigged"?

I’m the PP. I put rigged in quotations because that’s the prevalent accusation. We were with Washington ballet for 4 years and, aside from Julie Kent’s daughter, I haven’t seen any casting “rigging” at all. In fact, I’ve only seen the opposite. Situations like the little clown poster above. TWBS has a lot of issues and we had our problems with the school, but nutcracker casting was never one of our grievances.

I think like with Julie's daughter, the Party Girls being the same girls for 2 and 3 years in a row, it does make it FEEL "rigged" and all the more elusive and exclusive. They're not giving other dancers a chance at the role like other schools do, it's not like the students are given notes as to what they can work on, and I understand they're treating it like a professional production for everyone involved... But they're also a school and nurturing the kids' performance abilities or giving them some hard truth is also part of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the same but with a different name/twist. For example: Polichinelles = Clowns, Dolls are dolls = Dont most studios have Raggedy Ann, Andy and Teddy Bear? TWSB is a huge school, but the roles are limited because most of the roles, including Clara are either professional trainees or professionals. It wasnt always that way. I recall dancers 14, 16 years old within the school playing Clara.

Way back in the Mary Day era, Clara was a young teen, 13 or 14 max, usually from the class that had been on pointe for a year or so, iirc. A plum role, but it went to a girl who was still at the stage just before deciding to go on release time in the preprofessional track. Typically an 8th grader. Other roles were party kids, rats, and soldiers. Hoops, dolls, etc. were advanced/preprofessional student roles. One year I was cast as a rat and then they realized they'd cast all of the party girls too small for the costumes (which were already ancient by then), so they recast and made all the smallest rats back into the largest party girls.

This makes sense and why NYC and Boston Ballet does this kind of casting. The Clara storyline is a coming of age story of a girl around that age. Interesting that WB has made such dramatic changes that boxes out these younger dancers.

[Anonymous]

I've always managed expectations with my DD away from the Party Girl role. She hopes for it but I always celebrate with her no matter what role she gets. I may be alone, but I think it's good she feels that disappointed feeling every year and gets over it. She's determined to have a future as a performer and she needs a much bigger tolerance for rejection if she's going to keep putting herself out there when I'm not there to drive her or cheer her on.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's fair to call Julie's daughter rigging. She's the child of a professional ballerina and been around world class performances her entire life. I don't doubt she came into the school with a stronger baseline than the average child and it's also not fair to ask her, who is also just a child, to be a Snow Angel just so the other parents arent jealous of her. I don't think any of the kids see her that way, my daughter certainly doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's fair to call Julie's daughter rigging. She's the child of a professional ballerina and been around world class performances her entire life. I don't doubt she came into the school with a stronger baseline than the average child and it's also not fair to ask her, who is also just a child, to be a Snow Angel just so the other parents arent jealous of her. I don't think any of the kids see her that way, my daughter certainly doesn't.

Yes, just like how Tori Spelling made a fine Donna Martin. Everything you say is valid, and I don’t disagree. I have never had a firsthand issue with casting. Ever. But from an optics standpoint, it has a whiff of nepotism. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's fair to call Julie's daughter rigging. She's the child of a professional ballerina and been around world class performances her entire life. I don't doubt she came into the school with a stronger baseline than the average child and it's also not fair to ask her, who is also just a child, to be a Snow Angel just so the other parents arent jealous of her. I don't think any of the kids see her that way, my daughter certainly doesn't.

Yes, just like how Tori Spelling made a fine Donna Martin. Everything you say is valid, and I don’t disagree. I have never had a firsthand issue with casting. Ever. But from an optics standpoint, it has a whiff of nepotism. Just saying.

+1

Definitely. Party girl for 3 years in a row and a whole thread of dancers dying for a chance at the role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's fair to call Julie's daughter rigging. She's the child of a professional ballerina and been around world class performances her entire life. I don't doubt she came into the school with a stronger baseline than the average child and it's also not fair to ask her, who is also just a child, to be a Snow Angel just so the other parents arent jealous of her. I don't think any of the kids see her that way, my daughter certainly doesn't.

Yes, just like how Tori Spelling made a fine Donna Martin. Everything you say is valid, and I don’t disagree. I have never had a firsthand issue with casting. Ever. But from an optics standpoint, it has a whiff of nepotism. Just saying.

+1

Definitely. Party girl for 3 years in a row and a whole thread of dancers dying for a chance at the role.

As someone from a different school, I find that interesting. It's rare at our school for a dancer to do the same role two years in a row. Three years is unheard of. At ours, party girl is role you might take on in your second year of performing (after starting off as an angel or soldier). I don't know anyone who did party girl two years in a row, unless you became Marie. There are other roles with more advanced choreography, and usually you'd be expected to go for those roles after party girl. You'd also probably be too tall to be party girl by that point.

[Anonymous]

That's how it was at the studio my DD was at before moving to TWSB. So I think she was surprised to find that it's less inclusive here in giving other dancers a chance at the role. She's asked about going back just for the opportunity to play Party Girl or Clara, which is also a role given to 13/14 year old, but I've said only if she's willing to give up TWSB for good. But DD is still holding out hope, even though I believe she's too old/tall now for the role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's how it was at the studio my DD was at before moving to TWSB. So I think she was surprised to find that it's less inclusive here in giving other dancers a chance at the role. She's asked about going back just for the opportunity to play Party Girl or Clara, which is also a role given to 13/14 year old, but I've said only if she's willing to give up TWSB for good. But DD is still holding out hope, even though I believe she's too old/tall now for the role.

My daughter was a snow angel for two years in a row with the Washington Ballet Nutcracker production. Not what she was hoping for but we emphasized how it was great that she was getting to participate. She is definitely one of those who is holding out hope to be a party girl someday. I think that is one of the things that motivates her to continue at TWSB. We don’t love ballet as the main activity for our DD but as long as she advances to the next level at the school and is having fun, we won’t say no to her continuing year after year. I do wish that the school would consider assigning the roles to give the kids a chance to be something that they were not previously. Nutcracker is a huge time commitment for the families who do it and having a new role does give the kids a boost.

[Anonymous]

If the dancer is moving up year after year and is clearly committed to Nutcracker year after year it seems odd to not give them at least one year as Party Girl, right? There are a lot of Party Girls, they dont have to double cast them and a Level 3 can't be so out of line with the others when a 1A is given the chance.

[Anonymous]

Definitely interesting to see how different Nutcrackers are done at different schools. I'm sure it's very cool to dance with the professionals at the Kennedy Center!

My daughter is 13 and an intermediate 3 at Virginia Ballet Company (not sure how that translates to levels at TWSB, but she is in her first year on pointe). I think we only have professionals playing the male pas de deux roles, so the students get to play a lot of roles. The official cast list is not up, but from the rehearsal schedule so far, it seems DD will be Clara in one or two (of six) performances, and in the rest she seems to be doing various combos of mechanical doll, polka, dew drop, fairy queen, tea corps member, and snow flake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the dancer is moving up year after year and is clearly committed to Nutcracker year after year it seems odd to not give them at least one year as Party Girl, right? There are a lot of Party Girls, they dont have to double cast them and a Level 3 can't be so out of line with the others when a 1A is given the chance.

+1