Dear Aspiring Ballerinas,
With Nutcracker performances right around the corner, this is such a fun and exciting time, but it is also a time for hard work and sacrifice. This year we have been given the exciting opportunity to perform the principle role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Joffrey Ballet School’s production of The Nutcracker. It’s been a difficult and exhausting process, but also a very rewarding one. There have been times when we weren’t sure how the role was going to come together. Days when we were sore and tired and felt like nothing was working,. These times truly test your ability as a dancer. The times when you must push through even though you feel you can’t. These are the moments you become stronger.
Throughout this process we’ve learned so much: how to be better dancers, better partners, and better artists. The role of the Sugar Plum Fairy is just as much a character role as it is a challenging dance role. We’ve had to find the soul and artistry while meticulously executing a daring pas de deux. The process itself has required a lot of hard work. We’ve dedicated weekends and every spare moment between rehearsals to be able to perform the role the best we can.
Our advice to aspiring dancers would be to work as hard and as intelligently as you can. You have to want it, you have to work for it and you must take care of your body. No amount of talent will ever be enough without a tremendous amount of effort and commitment. That being said we wish you all mérde in your upcoming performances and we hope you join us for The Joffrey Ballet School’s production of The Nutcracker.
– Hua Hooi Gan + Luna Sayag Joffrey Ballet School Sugar Plum Fairies 2014
Founded in 1953 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, Joffrey Ballet School maintains the vision of its founders to transform passionate dance students into versatile, individualistic artists able to collaborate and evolve fluidly in a fast-changing society. With an accredited dance program that offers two core areas of study – ballet and jazz/contemporary – JBS is known for its diverse curriculum and has the largest summer intensive training program in the country.
