St. Croix Ballet puts on ‘Sleeping Beauty’
This year the St. Croix Ballet got ready for their spring show, that played on April 24th. They choose between Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and Cinderella every year, this year was Sleeping Beauty.
The dancers who participated enjoyed the presence of being on stage. Finally able to show everything they have been working for. The effort put into Sleeping Beauty was worth the loud clapping and cheering at the end.
“Dance is something I can put effort and emotion into other than school, which is very important to me,” junior Nina Thueson said.
The plot to Sleeping Beauty is similar to the Disney version, there is just no talking and read their movements to understand the story. The music helps also to understand what is going on in the ballet and how the dancers dance their way on and off stage also help.
“In the prologue there are several fairies that give gifts to the baby Aurora. First act there’s friends of the princess who help her celebrate her birthday and princes from all over that come to marry her, and when she is sleeping there are fairytale characters that come like a bedtime story,” Thueson said.
Many students have been in St.Croix Ballet for many years. Nina Thueson, for example has been in ballet for 13 years and participated in the spring show.
“Majority of the fairies in the ballet are Stillwater students, Mckenzie Brady, Grace Gualtieri, Ava Wichser, and Rebecca Franke,” Thueson said.
Some dancers in the play not only have one part, but many parts in the ballet. Depending on what parts you get, but in any which way it still means extreme memorization in the correct steps and movement during the performance.
“In Sleeping Beauty I was the Finger fairy, a friend of Aurora, and Little Red Riding Hood,” Thueson said.
Even though they choose between the same three ballets, Thueson enjoys all of them. The spring show is her favorite time to perform because of all the different parts and beautiful choreography.
“These shows are my favorite because there are so many lead roles for me and my friends to have. Also it’s unfamiliar choreography and music makes it a fun challenge to learn and perform,” Thueson said.
This year is the last year some students are performing for St.Croix Ballet and it is a bittersweet moment. Senior Ava Wichser performed for her last time, during Sleeping Beauty she was Princess Aurora and loved every moment of it.
“It was definitely sad and heartbreaking, but this won’t be my last time dancing. I’m going to major in it in college next year so I have that to look forward to,” Wichser said.
Other dancers come to watch the ballet and support their friends. They love the performance and end up walking away in ‘awe’ because of how well-done it was.
“As a dancer I love watching other studios and see the difference in their artistry from my studios style. Also I just love a good ballet,” junior Cora Schrankler said.
The performance was a masterpiece of art. Even though on stage there are just dancers, behind every dancer is a story of how far they got to where they are, for some it is their last time on stage with that cast, and for others it is their first time performing Sleep Beauty.
“It was so good, whenever I see a ballet performed by St.Croix it always exceeds my expectations. They do such a wonderful job and the dancers there are always so amazing,” Schrankler said.
Karisma is 16 years old and is a first year in newspaper. She loves to sing and act and has been in 5 plays. She has 2 sisters, one named Cerena and another...