GC Community Dance The Nutcracker returns for 26th year

Published 2:00 pm Sunday, December 4, 2022

Though it’s a tradition that’s now in its 26th year, Georgia College Community Dance Program’s performance of “The Nutcracker” is, in many ways, new each Christmas. 

That’s due in part to the fact that the choreography for the beloved ballet is original each year, and that’s something that even some of the nation’s largest dance companies like the New York City Ballet can’t say.

“We start from scratch, which most dance companies do not… We start all over every year,” said Amelia Pelton, Georgia College’s director of dance and founder of Georgia College’s “Nutcracker.”

Along with the choreography, there are many other features added each Christmas as well.

“Every year, we add lots of set pieces and costumes, and this year we’ve added about 10 more gorgeous tutus from China that are just out of this world,” Pelton said.

In addition, the gentlemen will don new tuxes this year, old-fashioned accessories have been added, and a new fog machine in Russell Auditorium will generate a mist that lays down better on stage. 

Since its beginning, the show has grown over the decades to include around 240 dancers each year. 

“We started out with 40 dancers 26 years ago and only four levels of ballet, and now we have eight levels of ballet and four levels of tap, four levels of jazz, creative movement, beginning pointe, adult beginning ballet, so many things since that very first year,” Pelton said.

While she was hopeful it would grow, it has done that and so much more. 

“It just far surpassed anything I could have dreamt of,” she said.

Around 60 college students perform in the show, and the Georgia College cheerleaders will again play the role of the Russians, a crowd favorite every year. 

Pelton said one of the things that makes “The Nutcracker” so unique is that it is a ballet that each set of dancers can make their own, which can’t be done with other ballets like “Sleeping Beauty” or “Swan Lake.” For instance, in New Mexico, the Santa Fe opera has cacti on stage, and in Mississippi, magnolia leaves adorn the set. The same has been done in Milledgeville. With so many dancers, they ran out of music from the original score by Pyotr Tchaikovsky years ago, and so they’ve added traditional Christmas classics to their rendition such as “White Christmas” and “Carol of the Belles.”

Milledgeville’s performance growing the way it has also means that there is no longer a need to have guest artists brought in from Atlanta. 

“We do not do that anymore and the reason is we have grown our own beautiful dancers,” Pelton said. 

She said the two Sugar Plum Fairies and their partner, Cavalier, are Georgia College students from the Atlanta area. They will be performing the original choreography from 1895.

“And we just love being able to use our own students,” Pelton said.

Through the years, Pelton has had several students whom she began teaching at 3 years old who have gone on to attend Georgia College and dance in the performance. Now, she’s teaching children of former dancers. Those students come from Milledgeville and beyond; many travel from surrounding counties who are in the non-credit community dance program. 

Rehearsals for this year’s performance began the weekend after Labor Day, and Pelton said organizing such a large event is something that goes on year-round. In fact, they’re already looking toward next year now. 

The real reward of it all, she said, is in working with the students and seeing how they progress each year.

“We have such pride – the teachers standing on the side – just watching how much they progress,” she said. 

Many times, Pelton watches in tears as a student who may have been shy in the beginning takes the stage with confidence and grace.

“I miss dancing, but I’m so rewarded with just choreographing it and directing it. I have so much reward in that way.”

Georgia College Community Dance Program’s performance of “The Nutcracker” is set for Dec. 9, 10 and 11. The Friday and Saturday night showings will be at 7 p.m., and Sunday’s show is set for 2 p.m. Tickets are available this year at tickets.gcsu.edu. General admission is $15, $10 for senior citizens, GC faculty/staff and non-GC students; and $5 for GC students.