SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — Like every December, the sounds of clacking pointe shoes, wooden sword fights and familiar melodies once again filled the small rehearsal space at the Ohio Performing Arts Institute with just days to go before opening night.
Only this year, a sense of comfort and relief accompanied the usual excitement. After a challenging year of shortened schedules, smaller casts, tighter budgets and looming pandemic uncertainty, the Springfield company is performing its 32nd Nutcracker in-person after a one-year hiatus.
A seasonal staple of dance companies worldwide, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is the most popular ballet in the world, selling out theaters since 1892. In Ohio alone, dozens of performances are scheduled across the state between Thanksgiving and New Year’s weekend.
D. Scot Davidge brought the tradition to Springfield when shortly after he opened OPAI in 1985.
“It’s become a tradition and if you don’t know it, you come see it, and it becomes part of your Christmas,” he said. “It’s hard to start Christmas in my mind without the nutcracker.”
The Springfield production incorporates dancers of all ages, including classically trained instructors, community members and K-12 dance students as well as students from the Developmental Disabilities of Clark County program.
Davidge sees the annual show as a unifier for the Springfield community — a way to make classical dance accessible to everyone while bringing a beloved story to life.
“When we started, we had like 300 people coming,” he said. “Now we fill the theater.”
Due to the pandemic though, OPAI was unable to host an in-person show at their typical venue, Kuss Stage at Clark State University.
Unwilling to give up the tradition entirely, Davidge wanted to find a way to safely put on a virtual performance. The dancers recorded their scenes inside their rehearsal space and premiered a DVD of their 2020 performance for friends and family at Urbana’s Gloria Theater.
“It was a lot of fun for them,” he said. “But it wasn’t the same.”
Davidge spots for two of his dancers at the end of the Snow Queen’s solo.
This year, Davidge is eager to see a return to form, despite challenges still facing the theater.
Like companies across the country, Davidge said the pandemic threatened OPAI’s future. Without revenue from the Nutcracker and lower than usual enrollment in dance classes, he said the company’s had to rely on fundraising and community support to remain in operation.
On top of that, Davidge said this year’s production saw fewer returning dancers and shortened rehearsal time, but he’s still expecting a high-quality performance.
“I’m surprised how well it came together and how quickly it happened,” he said.
For that, he credits some of his longtime dance students, now turned instructors like Kaitlin Musick, who taught some of the youngest performers.
Musick works on a costume for a dancer.
“I’m just so proud of them in their first Nutcracker,” she said.
Musick has been dancing with OPAI since she was three and returned as an instructor after graduating Wittenberg University with a degree in Dance.
“At the end of the day dance was my favorite thing to do and always has been,” she said.
Davidge said dancers like Musick are why his studio exists, cultivating a passion for dance and performing and providing a place for students to grow.
“That’s how you perpetuate what I do.” He said. “I have people who started out in the nutcracker and now their kids and their kids’ kids are in my nutcracker.”
The Nutcracker is running Dec. 3 and 4 at Kuss Stage at the Clark State Performing Arts Center. Click here for ticket information.
