http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111209/NEWS02/712099903
Lauren Fountain will perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker at Springfield High School.
Photo: Vyto Starinskas / Staff Photo
Published December 9, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Dancers put in 19th annual Nutcracker in Springfield
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — These girls have the Nutcracker in their DNA.
Alexandra DeRosia, Lauren Fountain and Carrie Mobus will have leading roles in this weekend’s 19th annual performance of “The Nutcracker” in Springfield.
The three girls, all students at The Dance Factory, a Main Street dance studio, have grown up together dancing, and all the girls have followed in the toe shoes, so-to-speak, of family members, whether sisters or mothers.
And dancing a lead role in The Nutcracker at Christmas has always been their dream, they said.
The Nutcracker ballet is a Christmas tradition all over the world, and Springfield has its own version, with variations year to year created by Susan Hagan, the Dance Factory’s longtime director, the girls said.
“It’s the 19th year, which is awesome, said Fountain and Mobus, simultaneously.
The girls have participated in close to a dozen Nutcracker performances each, starting in the small child roles and eventually earning the starring roles they will play this weekend.
Fountain, 17, will take the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Derosia, 18, the Snow Queen, and Mobus, 17, the Firebird, and the girls said Hagan had fine-tuned her choreography to reflect their strengths.
“She tries to make it different,” Mobus said. “She tailors it to the dancers.”
Family tradition runs strong in the Springfield production. DeRosia’s mother, Kate, danced the Snow Queen 19 years ago, and returned to teach the younger students at the dance studio.
Fountain’s older sister, Ashley, was the Sugar Plum Fairy three years ago, and the Fountain sisters shared the pink tulle and satin costume and rhinestone tiara that is key to the part.
“Ashley was Clara and then I was Clara. She was the Sugar Plum, and now I am the Sugar Plum,” she said.
There are some new sets this year, and they credited the work of Scott Belt for the new designs.
Belt will play Drosselmeyer.
This year’s Nutcracker cast has been rehearsing every Sunday afternoon since October, often three or more hours.
The cast is made up of about 60 people and children, and the girls check the Nutcracker bulletin board at the Dance Factory, which is full of notices and reminders. There are 80 different costumes, Fountain said.
Most of the cast is made up of children in the studio, but there are several members of the community who return year after year to play their nondance parts.
Fountain has been dancing since she was three years old, and until she was in the second grade, she could only watch the ballet.
“It’s such a big thing,” Fountain said of the community production.
Mobus has been dancing since she was 4 years old in Italy, before her family returned to Vermont.
Fountain and Mobus are both seniors at Springfield High School, while DeRosia attends Green Mountain Union High School in Chester.
The dance school has been an important part of their life, and a way of carrying on and passing down a beloved tradition.
The two Springfield High School seniors always get their photo taken after the Sunday performance, they said.
“After this Sunday I think we’ll just cry,” Fountain said.
The Nutcracker will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Springfield High School Auditorium, and again at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $13 for adults and $8 for children. There is also a dress rehearsal Saturday at 9 a.m. that is open to the public.
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