TWSB Nutcracker 2023!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I can imagine how it would feel to be assigned a soldier and then end up a page. Or be a page three years in a row! Being part of the Nutcracker is exciting, but at a certain point... Our DD stopped dancing at WSB a few years ago because of their inflexible schedule for older girls. I can say in retrospect that all of this seems like such a big deal in the moment but isn't. On the other hand, there should be respect for the girls involved. Three years as a page is just wrong. And switching someone from soldier to page is, for a young girl, a pretty big blow. These roles do have varying levels of desirability, and young girls will take something like this hard. There should be more respect for the girls or a clear warning about what could happen so families don't sign up for a possible humiliation of this order without being aware of what could happen.

If my kid were assigned as a page for the third year in a row and didn't want to do it, I would 100% pull them out. I don't give a crap what I signed earlier. It's so totally disrespectful to the girls. This is especially true because one kid who I knew who got stuck in that role for two years was more or less told that it's because they were an excellent babysitter for the younger kids. It's especially crappy to get the worst role because you're a nice kid. 3 years in a row? No way.

This is such a poor attitude. This is a company production, not a school production. The casting is about filling the needs of the production, and not necessarily about showcasing each student. This is going to vary on the number of kids who show up to the audition at each level.

Most of the roles at that level are pretty interchangeable, honestly. It’s not like I’m saying she should get a chance to be Clara (or even clown or party girl or butterfly or bunny). You can absolutely not give a kid page 3 years in a row without affecting the show. At the very least, you should pre-warn parents and give them a chance to turn down the spot.

Also, FYI, Clara is not a student role

I’m not a ballet parent - who dances Clara? Didn’t Chelsea Clinton do it one year when she was young?

Clara is a PTP role, and though I know Chlesea dances with TWSB, I don't know her nutcracker roles

According to the internet in 1993, Clinton played the role which was then known as "Favorite Aunt"

Little Butterfly and Party Parent is all I know she had.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Oh goodness, they casts are ALL amazing - they are all the professional company!
As Donna says, all the gems are beautiful and precious.

They have done MUCH better in recent years about balancing who does opening night, closing night, tea party etc

The biggest determinant of casts is siblings and being sure they can balance roles that way.

[Anonymous]

What happened at SE, repeating roles for 3 years, and racial typecasting is objectively wrong and dismissive to those individuals. Gratitude shaming is common in organizations that attempt to perpetuate a culture of silence and compliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

Victim is a pretty strong word here. Does it stink for the kids who went from soldier to page on day 1 - sure. But lets look at the big picture here. They went from one minor supporting role in a professional production to another. This is not the end of days by any means. Its not like they were dropped from the production or demoted in the school. The contract all of the families sign actually says that roles might change on the first weekend.
Teach your kids to role with the punches and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

Victim is a pretty strong word here. Does it stink for the kids who went from soldier to page on day 1 - sure. But lets look at the big picture here. They went from one minor supporting role in a professional production to another. This is not the end of days by any means. Its not like they were dropped from the production or demoted in the school. The contract all of the families sign actually says that roles might change on the first weekend.
Teach your kids to role with the punches and move on.

Wow, you really seem incapable of empathizing with the Black girls and their mothers who have to - once again - listen to a White woman telling them to be grateful for what they have. How many White girls were cast as a flower page for three years in a row? How many White girls were told that they could no longer be solider and had to be a page again? Do you not really hear yourself or understand the context of your "advice"?
Yes, this is a professional production, but this is also in part a reflection of the school. And both the school and the company purport to uphold certain values. I'm not sure that these numbers and statistics bear that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

Victim is a pretty strong word here. Does it stink for the kids who went from soldier to page on day 1 - sure. But lets look at the big picture here. They went from one minor supporting role in a professional production to another. This is not the end of days by any means. Its not like they were dropped from the production or demoted in the school. The contract all of the families sign actually says that roles might change on the first weekend.
Teach your kids to role with the punches and move on.

It's that it happened all from one location where the students are predominately black. If it ever happened the other way around from page to soldier, I don't think it would be a long leap to guess what type of student would get that privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

Victim is a pretty strong word here. Does it stink for the kids who went from soldier to page on day 1 - sure. But lets look at the big picture here. They went from one minor supporting role in a professional production to another. This is not the end of days by any means. Its not like they were dropped from the production or demoted in the school. The contract all of the families sign actually says that roles might change on the first weekend.
Teach your kids to role with the punches and move on.

Wow, you really seem incapable of empathizing with the Black girls and their mothers who have to - once again - listen to a White woman telling them to be grateful for what they have. How many White girls were cast as a flower page for three years in a row? How many White girls were told that they could no longer be solider and had to be a page again? Do you not really hear yourself or understand the context of your "advice"?
Yes, this is a professional production, but this is also in part a reflection of the school. And both the school and the company purport to uphold certain values. I'm not sure that these numbers and statistics bear that out.

+ 1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of this will be taken into account for creating the casts? Like, those who were victims of the mixups could be placed in 'better' casts?

Give them all tickets with plus ones to the Tea Party. Apologize and assure them that it won't happen again and you value their contribution to the production. Keep a list of these students and do better by them next year.

Victim is a pretty strong word here. Does it stink for the kids who went from soldier to page on day 1 - sure. But lets look at the big picture here. They went from one minor supporting role in a professional production to another. This is not the end of days by any means. Its not like they were dropped from the production or demoted in the school. The contract all of the families sign actually says that roles might change on the first weekend.
Teach your kids to role with the punches and move on.

Wow, you really seem incapable of empathizing with the Black girls and their mothers who have to - once again - listen to a White woman telling them to be grateful for what they have. How many White girls were cast as a flower page for three years in a row? How many White girls were told that they could no longer be solider and had to be a page again? Do you not really hear yourself or understand the context of your "advice"?
Yes, this is a professional production, but this is also in part a reflection of the school. And both the school and the company purport to uphold certain values. I'm not sure that these numbers and statistics bear that out.

There is at least one white student in my DD's page group who was moved from page to soldier this year after the first rehearsal. I don't know why. It doesn't seem like it was a part of the casting mixup.

[Anonymous]

On a separate note - regarding those who say the performance is meant to be a reflection of the school.
It never really feels that way to me.
Wouldn't they strive for more prominent roles for the kids with more "real"choreography if that was the case?

I'm a few years in now as a parent in this, and its always felt very clear to me that this production was not to feature the kids.

[Anonymous]

So maybe now is the time to press them on changing the pages’ choreography, which seems to be the actual issue with the role? It can’t be stage time b/c outside of the party scene, none of the other roles are on stage for as long as the pages. Use the mixup as your leverage. The soldiers march and there are so many of them that you can’t tell them apart. I wouldn’t consider that necessarily significant or dancing. I know several white dancers from NW who are bees for the second year in a row. A crowd favorite? Yes. But significant? No. They come out, shake their butts, the crowd laughs and applauds, and the scene is more or less done for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a separate note - regarding those who say the performance is meant to be a reflection of the school.
It never really feels that way to me.
Wouldn't they strive for more prominent roles for the kids with more "real"choreography if that was the case?

I'm a few years in now as a parent in this, and its always felt very clear to me that this production was not to feature the kids.

The students are obviously a very important piece of this production. Clowns, Party Kids, Soldiers, etc are scenes where it's all about the kids.

Clara used to be a student role, not sure when that changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a separate note - regarding those who say the performance is meant to be a reflection of the school.
It never really feels that way to me.
Wouldn't they strive for more prominent roles for the kids with more "real"choreography if that was the case?

I'm a few years in now as a parent in this, and its always felt very clear to me that this production was not to feature the kids.

You are right. I’m the poster above who said you need to go to a youth ballet like the Maryland Youth Ballet if you’re looking for a Nutcracker production that features student dancers. That is not the goal of TWB’s Nutcracker. Students are ancillary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So maybe now is the time to press them on changing the pages’ choreography, which seems to be the actual issue with the role? It can’t be stage time b/c outside of the party scene, none of the other roles are on stage for as long as the pages. Use the mixup as your leverage. The soldiers march and there are so many of them that you can’t tell them apart. I wouldn’t consider that necessarily significant or dancing. I know several white dancers from NW who are bees for the second year in a row. A crowd favorite? Yes. But significant? No. They come out, shake their butts, the crowd laughs and applauds, and the scene is more or less done for them.

Donna did say that some choreography is changing? Maybe this is one of the roles?