TWSB Nutcracker 2023!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What age would that role be? It seems pretty lame to be in a ballet and just sit there with no dancing.

Seems like a Level 2 & 3 role. So ages 9 - 12?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What age would that role be? It seems pretty lame to be in a ballet and just sit there with no dancing.

It seems like very few of the student roles except the most senior (Frontier Girls??) actually do much dancing. The soldiers march, the clowns do cartwheels, etc.

Plenty of dancing and choreography for soldier and clowns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about ballet but this thread is so interesting!

What is it about being a flower page that is so bad? What roles are good and bad?

There aren't many flower pages in each cast. It seems like there's very little dancing and it seems to mostly cast students of color.

Good roles after a 'certain age' = Party Girls, Soldiers, Bunny, Clowns, Little Butterflies, Frontier Girls

Is it typically students of color? Has this been confirmed or is this just speculation??

The SE situation answers this pretty clearly. TWSB does not have a lot of non-white students and so for so many of them to end up in any given role... Particularly, the less desirable roles means at best there's unconscious bias going on.

[Anonymous]

Was Donna's email about the SE students? I wasn't sure what prompted that. We'd never gotten one of those before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was Donna's email about the SE students? I wasn't sure what prompted that. We'd never gotten one of those before.

I don't know if anyone not on the inside will know the trigger of that email. But I agree, that email made me feel like there were a lot of parents complaining about a role or a schedule. And Donna felt the needed a reminder that this is what they signed up for.

[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.

Of course. That's not the role of the Nutcracker for most schools that do it - it is an enormous fundraiser.

[Anonymous]

The Washington Ballet is a pillar of the community and their productions should reflect that. They've made efforts with their company members and there is no reason there shouldn't be better inclusion reflected in the student cast.

There is no reason the Party Girls or Butterflies or any prized roles shouldn't be at least 50% dancers of color. If they don't have these numbers, they need to recruit them.

[Anonymous]

Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

They have the numbers in the school, even NW is pretty diverse. If no POC kids are auditioning, maybe it's because they're not being seen in the better roles?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

They have the numbers in the school, even NW is pretty diverse. If no POC kids are auditioning, maybe it's because they're not being seen in the better roles?

Or maybe because they don’t want to make the commitment to Nutcracker? So many families opt out of Nutcracker because it requires such a huge time commitment — this is all families. You start with fewer families of color in general, then you take away all of those families who opt out of Nutcracker then you’re left with way fewer families compared to white families. It’s a numbers game. I disagree with PP about 50% of dancers in “major” student roles needing to be dancers of color. How do you define that exactly? Are you talking about just Black dancers? Or Black and brown dancers? And if brown, which groups — south Asian, too? And what about kids who are mixed race, but don’t present as Black and/Brown? Do they count? Or just kids who are visibly of color? You can see the slippery slope here….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

They have the numbers in the school, even NW is pretty diverse. If no POC kids are auditioning, maybe it's because they're not being seen in the better roles?

Or maybe because they don’t want to make the commitment to Nutcracker? So many families opt out of Nutcracker because it requires such a huge time commitment — this is all families. You start with fewer families of color in general, then you take away all of those families who opt out of Nutcracker then you’re left with way fewer families compared to white families. It’s a numbers game. I disagree with PP about 50% of dancers in “major” student roles needing to be dancers of color. How do you define that exactly? Are you talking about just Black dancers? Or Black and brown dancers? And if brown, which groups — south Asian, too? And what about kids who are mixed race, but don’t present as Black and/Brown? Do they count? Or just kids who are visibly of color? You can see the slippery slope here….

Yes to all. I would love for the stage to look like the united nations and reflect the community of dancers they have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

They have the numbers in the school, even NW is pretty diverse. If no POC kids are auditioning, maybe it's because they're not being seen in the better roles?

Or maybe because they don’t want to make the commitment to Nutcracker? So many families opt out of Nutcracker because it requires such a huge time commitment — this is all families. You start with fewer families of color in general, then you take away all of those families who opt out of Nutcracker then you’re left with way fewer families compared to white families. It’s a numbers game. I disagree with PP about 50% of dancers in “major” student roles needing to be dancers of color. How do you define that exactly? Are you talking about just Black dancers? Or Black and brown dancers? And if brown, which groups — south Asian, too? And what about kids who are mixed race, but don’t present as Black and/Brown? Do they count? Or just kids who are visibly of color? You can see the slippery slope here….

Doing nothing about it is not the answer.

[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.

This is a symptom of a bigger problem. The classes at the school are large, slow and not challenging for quality dancing at younger ages. Besides the very young kids, there could be much more dancing and musicality involved, even character work, especially flower page! At least doll has character work. (Mouse mama - another great character role)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Washington Ballet is a pillar of the community and their productions should reflect that. They've made efforts with their company members and there is no reason there shouldn't be better inclusion reflected in the student cast.

There is no reason the Party Girls or Butterflies or any prized roles shouldn't be at least 50% dancers of color. If they don't have these numbers, they need to recruit them.

Right. like from where? this is the world of ballet. And the assignments go to the ability level of the student. If a student can't handle Party Girls or more advanced roles it's because some aren't ready for it. YOu do know some ballet students level out? It's an anatomical gift. you either have it and advance, or you don't, and you exit for modern dance or find another activity. Not everyone (actually few) advances through all levels and go on to summer programs or dance with comopanies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember school is not company. The company is quite diverse, they have worked hard to make it that way.

The school is voluntary sign up, and no mid level ballet school is going to go recruiting students (except for PTP - and I don’t know the demographic breakdown of PTP) - promoting the SE campus is probably the most you should expect.

They have the numbers in the school, even NW is pretty diverse. If no POC kids are auditioning, maybe it's because they're not being seen in the better roles?

Or maybe because they don’t want to make the commitment to Nutcracker? So many families opt out of Nutcracker because it requires such a huge time commitment — this is all families. You start with fewer families of color in general, then you take away all of those families who opt out of Nutcracker then you’re left with way fewer families compared to white families. It’s a numbers game. I disagree with PP about 50% of dancers in “major” student roles needing to be dancers of color. How do you define that exactly? Are you talking about just Black dancers? Or Black and brown dancers? And if brown, which groups — south Asian, too? And what about kids who are mixed race, but don’t present as Black and/Brown? Do they count? Or just kids who are visibly of color? You can see the slippery slope here….

Doing nothing about it is not the answer.

Please tell us exactly what you would do (instead of criticizing)