Art of Motion Dance's holiday show includes ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and musical theater. (Photo by Shelly Beech)

Creativity adds spark and sentiment to nontraditional shows

It may be July for the rest of the planet, but for dance studio owners it’s time to think about snowflakes—and Santas and Sugar Plum Fairies and the other ingredients of December holiday recitals. How, you may wonder, do I compete with the studio across town that’s three times the size of mine? How do I breathe fresh life into my show when I’m watching every nickel I spend? What can I do that will have parents’ jaws dropping in delight, not in yawns?

Dance Studio Life asked studio owners across the United States and Canada for innovative holiday recital concepts. Here’s what five of them had to say.

Holiday Surprise
Rhonda Foote, owner, Rhonda’s FooteWorks, Evans Mills, NY
Since I opened my studio in northern New York in 1987, community outreach has been important to me. Now, as mom to a child with a serious ongoing medical condition, I know how important it is to work as artists to help such children. It is my personal mission to “pay it forward” through our outreach shows.

We performed our first version of “A Holiday Surprise” in a local school to a full house in 1988 and raised about $2,000 for cerebral palsy. Since then our shows have raised nearly $20,000 for organizations such as the local branch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and for many local children with medical needs.

I was an English major in college, so writing a script and altering it to fit the needs of my studio was fun, but you don’t need to be a writer to make this work for your studio. I have two scripts, both involving children who are lost in a snowstorm—one set in New York City and one at the North Pole.

For the older, more advanced students, the New York theme works best. It includes homeless people appearing from boxes and cans in the aisles, a Rockettes-style kick line, and sparkling baby snowflakes. For the younger students, the North Pole scenario is a better alternative. We have hip-hop reindeers, preschoolers as Santa’s elves, and middle school dancers as the “lost children” who sing, speak, and dance their way through the show.

Both shows feature a visit from Santa prior to intermission. The younger dancers run to meet him and children come up from the audience, too.

We start rehearsals after Halloween. Each class is assigned a part in the show. The instructor choreographs their piece and assigns speaking parts in which students introduce and follow dances with scripted, in-character comments. I choose the leads from dancers in the school’s company and seek local musicians and vocalists to appear as street vendors, angels, or Santa’s helpers. This format means we need only one rehearsal on the day of the show to put it all together.

A silent auction and 50/50 raffle (in which half the proceeds go to the family of a medical-needs child and half to the prizewinner) include more of the community and build the audience. We don’t charge at the door. We have a donation basket and accept contributions during the finale. I change our finale each year. For example, the show has closed with a Rockettes-style kick line (children and families are reunited at Radio City Music Hall) or with “The Christmas Shoes” (as the lost children reunite with their families at a department store, dancers go through the aisles collecting donations in wrapped shoe boxes). I have discovered that many people won’t pay to attend, but they give generously if moved by the show.

The gifts from “Holiday Surprise” have been many: the looks on my dancers’ faces when they realize they performed in a “real show” and raised money for children (many of whom they know), plus their understanding that dance can be an integrated art form. Our holiday show gives them the opportunity to sing, speak, act, and dance. Plus, people in the community remember that we helped someone they know. And we get great publicity, support, and goodwill, as demonstrated by the vast array of donated items for our silent auctions.

Creating a story line and altering it to fit your needs is no more difficult than lining up acts at the local mall. We reuse props, costumes, and set pieces each year. Parents are wonderful about helping with this show and often appear onstage when adult performers are needed.

Our studio’s commitment to community outreach is best demonstrated in our annual “Holiday Surprise” production. It includes the entire studio and our community, and the cause we are supporting is the focus. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays.

Bartlesville’s Christmas Spectacular
Shelly Beech, artistic director, Art of Motion Dance, Bartlesville, OK
Ten years ago there were limited opportunities for my dancers to be involved with local Christmas productions. Those who performed with other organizations were forced to miss their regular dance classes to meet rehearsal schedules. I knew there had to be a better way.

So I began planning. I inventoried music, bought clearance costumes, searched for ready-to-go choreography, and chose recital costumes that could be easily revamped for use at Christmas. Then I took a leap of faith by signing a contract for the theater.

I tapped my network of friends in the dance world for music suggestions—from classics to obscure remakes to trendy new pieces—and many of them offered to share their choreography.

Then, on a trip in mid-July, I drove six hours through Kansas in 103-degree weather, armed with more than 200 Christmas CDs, including such obscure ones as A Very Brady Christmas and House of Blues Christmas Collection. The tollbooth operators got a kick out of me. What developed was a modern-day variety show incorporating Santa Claus, angels, and even The Nutcracker’s Sugar Plum Fairy. Each dance is like a LEGO block that can be placed anywhere in the show. Ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theater—they’re all included.

Having the luxury of an in-house soundman—my husband—has spoiled me. He can edit any piece of music down to a 2 1/2-minute nugget. He also arranged and recorded a cover version of “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch” with his band. It’s a signature piece in our show, along with our version of the classic “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.” We’ve had the Peanuts gang tap dance to “O Tannenbaum,” and Christmas presents have come to life in “Holly Jolly Christmas.” In “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” mice start out by rapping the poem, then switch to a tongue-in-cheek version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” and end with an old-school hip-hop number. We’ve even used Rosie O’Donnell’s “Gonna Eat For Christmas” as an opening number.

The show started with 24 pieces; now our Christmas repertoire has about 60 pieces and grows every year. Each year we introduce a new piece and retire an old one, and we give the recurring dances a fresh look by restaging them or changing the costumes.

The show is one night only. Students do all their rehearsing during their dance classes. Dress rehearsal is the day before the show and never lasts more than two and a half hours. (Busy families appreciate having only one outside rehearsal.) Streamlining the show keeps everyone happy. The dances are stage ready when we walk into the theater; dress rehearsal is strictly to let our technical crew work out details and dancers choreograph those backstage quick changes. We take our semipermanent dance floor to the theater so that our dancers enjoy the security of dancing on a familiar surface.

To ensure easy in and out at the theater, we keep set pieces and lighting to a minimum. A lighted garland stretches across the apron and two large Christmas trees flank the proscenium arch. Gobos and color washes on the cyclorama set the mood of each dance: Santa in flight, snowflakes, and a star-filled night sky give the show bang for little effort. We use only one “special,” at center stage, and one spotlight to feature the Grinch and Rudolph. The performers dance on and off to cut down on time between dances. Blackouts are used the rest of the time, and the curtain drops only at intermission and after the finale.

I take meticulous notes and document everything with a videocamera. I back up all my notes on the computer and try to never reinvent the wheel. The show comes out of storage annually and runs as smooth as silk!

Nutcracker Redux
Nancy Green, director, The Dance Emporium Inc., Middletown, NY
We’d been doing a holiday show for seven years, but last year, with people cutting back on extras, I decided to try something different that
would keep the spirit of the season without breaking the bank.

Our usual show included music from The Nutcracker, Christmas carols, international holiday songs, and classic music of the season. We thought we’d get the best draw if we featured only Nutcracker music, so we created “Scenes from The Nutcracker.”

We decided to do everything in our studio. We already owned all the costumes for the usual holiday show, and since we had used the music in our previous shows, it was ready to go. But we needed choreography that would fit in our studio. For each piece—Chinese, Chocolate, Dance of the Flutes, Sugar Plum Fairy, Waltz of the Flowers, Trepak, Arabian, Snow, and Carol of the Bells—I determined the fewest dancers needed to convey the story without compromise. Solo pieces went to my strongest dancers, who had done the choreography before, and the smaller dancers learned the parts for Chinese. We had about 15 dancers in all.

For the program, I took digital photographs of the costumed dancers and made 5-by-7-inch booklets that featured pictures of each piece, with corresponding pages for autographs and photos. That way people could take pictures with the performers afterward and go home with a scrapbook of the event.

The biggest challenge was the staging. Since we have three studio spaces, we moved the audience from “scene” to “scene,” which allowed us to set up one part of the process while another was going on. The largest studio served as the stage and auditorium. We draped the mirrors with fabric to look like curtains and dressed the stage with Christmas lights and decorations. For seating, we borrowed folding chairs from a local church.

To open the show, I read a synopsis of The Nutcracker. When the 20-minute performance was finished, the audience moved to our second studio, where Christmas music was playing, for refreshments. For 15 minutes I mingled, getting people’s feedback. Everyone was positive, saying how nice it was—small and intimate—and how the dancing got them into the holiday spirit.

When the audience moved to our third and smallest studio, the dancers were waiting, still in costume. They posed for pictures, signed program books, and answered questions from the children. After 20 minutes everyone got a chance to see Santa, waiting in the lobby, on their way out.

Our $7 admission fee included the booklet and refreshments. Two performances drew about 30 people each. Everyone had a good time and the parents seemed to enjoy a performance that didn’t take up their whole day. I’ll definitely do it again.

The Nutcracker—All Jazzed Up
Lisa Yarwood, owner/director; Eilleen Mallary, ballet director, Lisa’s School of Dance, Bartlett, IL
This year will be the fifth anniversary of our holiday production of “The Nutcracker—All Jazzed Up,” an annual community event produced by Lisa’s School of Dance and the Bartlett Park District.

For years our competition dancers performed a brief holiday show at the local mall. To enhance their ballet and pointe training, we began teaching them variations from The Nutcracker. We started with the Sugar Plum Fairy, then added more variations, including Russian, Chinese, and the Party Scene Galop. We then approached the park district about producing a full-length Nutcracker and our production was born.

“We now have a full Nutcracker wardrobe. Younger dancers who are cast in multiple roles usually try to wear a piece of each costume. Where else could you see a mouse with angel wings?” —Lisa Yarwood and Eilleen Mallary

In our Chicago suburb, audiences have several Nutcrackers to choose from. We have created our own niche by adding different styles of dance and shortening the production to make it more family friendly. We do use (and credit) Cathy Roe’s reworking of the score to include hip-hop and techno flavors but have created our own story line and choreography and added chunks of additional music.

Our jazzy twist on the story opens with a fast, upbeat party at Clara’s house on Christmas Eve. Clara and her friends perform several jazz dances and then are treated by her Uncle Drosselmeyer to tumbling Harlequins, a high-kicking Soldier Doll, and a Columbine Doll on pointe.

After Clara falls into a deep sleep, she is attacked by the exceptionally cool Mouse Queen and her pint-sized mice minions, who dance/battle with a platoon of hip-hop soldiers. The Nutcracker then takes Clara on a magical sleigh ride to meet the Ice Princess (a pointe solo in lieu of the pas de deux) and through a corps of ballerina Snowflakes and their Snow Queen.

Finally they arrive in the Land of the Sweets, where Clara is treated to a saucy Spanish fan dance, a jazzy Chinese number, a lyrical/acro Arabian duet/trio, Gingerchildren who appear from a giant gingerbread house with two lead Gingerbread Men, and tapping Russians, complete with a Rockettes-style kick line.

At first we had a hodgepodge of recycled recital costumes, but each year we replaced some of them, and we now have a full Nutcracker wardrobe. Younger dancers who are cast in multiple roles usually try to wear a piece of each costume. Where else could you see a mouse with angel wings?

Dancers from neighboring studios and park districts join our dancers, which we feel builds strong ties within our dance community and breaks down competitive barriers. The dancers get to experience a professional production outside of recital, including technical rehearsals and hitting lighting cues.

Students audition in June and rehearsals are held weekly from September to November. Younger roles rehearse every other week until close to November, while older roles and larger corps parts rehearse every week. What started with 40 students in one weekend performance has grown into two casts of 100 and two weekends of shows! The choreography changes every year as the dancers’ ability levels rise, which keeps the show fresh for returning families.

We perform in a park district theater and while we do some advertising, most of our ticket sales are through word of mouth. Our students pay a registration fee that includes a cast T-shirt and two tickets to a performance.

Not only is the show a great way for families to enjoy the performing arts, but the entire community is involved in the production. Volunteers serve as backstage moms, crew dads, set builders, concession-stand workers, and ushers. Many local businesses sponsor specific costumes or set pieces or props each year.

Our performances always feel like the start of the holiday season. After five years, for us the best part is watching the younger dancers as they gaze from the wings, dreaming about the parts they will be dancing in another five years!

The Night Before Christmas
Janice Lynn Brougher-Roos, owner, Studio ’91, Grantham, PA
In 2001, I decided that it was time for a holiday-based production. The dilemma was that several regional ballet companies perform an annual Nutcracker, and I wanted to do something different. I also wanted to showcase my tap and jazz classes and inspire my instructors and students.

My instructors and I brainstormed how we could develop an innovative holiday performance that would also benefit my “specialty class students,” who receive instruction at least two times a week. One of the senior instructors suggested that we take a traditional Christmas story and incorporate our own interpretation through dance and narration. We chose “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and were well on our way.

In our production, Mrs. Claus narrates the journey of a live family immersed in the story, depicted in dance and music—in effect, creating a multifaceted spectacle. Additional characters—an Elf as well as Santa himself—round out the show. With a plethora of props and special effects, we take full advantage of the professional-quality stage we’ve used for the past six years. In one performance highlight, a full-size sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer dancers crosses the stage.

Since each dance—including Ratz, Toy Soldiers, and Chimney Sweeps—is based on a particular skill level, the roughly 115 participating dancers are driven to advance during performance years (every other year). Studio instructors often join in the production in their own dance, adding to the fun and excitement.

In our most recent showings, we added live music featuring the Enola Emmanuel United Methodist Church choir, singing and using hand bells. We have also incorporated live instrumental pieces performed by local musicians on flute and violin, as well as a solo vocalist who performs a powerful rendition of “Still, Still, Still.” We have also used Irish step dancers and plan to include ballroom dancers this year.

From our first performance in 2002, when we used the small auditorium of a local middle school to entertain only about 250 guests, the show has evolved to a full-fledged production held in the Cumberland Valley Performing Arts Center, which seats nearly 1,000. This level of success has allowed us to offer discounted tickets to senior citizens, Scout troops, and other groups.

While the resources we have add value to the production, it is the creative latitude that empowers the show. We hope that the fresh content and growth that comes from our creativity will keep audiences coming back year after year.