Credit: c/o Gia Vachino
This season, 14 Abington Heights High School students performed in the Ballet Theatre of Scranton’s original production of “The Nutcracker.”
Each student spent about 63 rigorous hours rehearsing to put on this wonderful production for the community.
When asking Gabi Snyder, the Snow Queen, about her experience, she expressed that dancing takes hard work and dedication but also comes with a great deal of spending time with the people who make every day a wonderful experience.
"What I'm going to miss most is being around all these people, because we are with each other multiple hours a day.”
The level of rehearsing for the show consisted of having a specific role, in addition to collaborating with other student’s roles. When interviewing Elizabeth Schneider, the Sugar Plum Fairy, she explained what she loved most about the preparation for the performance and how she has grown as a dancer.
“What I love most about my role is that I got to work with a professional partner, and I've been partnering with him now for about three years. Over the years, we got to build what we do in our pas. I got to travel to New York to see him, and he travelled here to see me in order to put on the performance.”
A recurring theme expressed by each member conveyed the importance of developing strong relationships with one another.
Due to being siblings, Gia and John Roman Vachino had an additional level of professionalism that they portrayed in their roles. John Roman, the Nutcracker Prince, explained the benefit of dancing with his sister.
“Because we are siblings, we would figure everything out at home if we couldn’t figure it out at the studio, so it was a lot of work put in at the studio and on our own time.”
In additional, the cast has a passion .towards impacting the next generation of dancers.
Brennan Connor, the Snow King and Hot Chocolate from Spain, explains, “My favorite part was the educational performance. I remember when I got to go see “The Nutcracker” in third grade and the idea that I could give someone else that memory is very special to me.”