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SLO Movement Arts Center presents Christmastime classic ballet with a twist

Actors who play Clara and the Nutcracker rehearsing Act Two.
Yalina Harris
Actors who play Clara and the Nutcracker rehearsing Act Two.

The San Luis Obispo Movement Arts Center, or SLOMAC, is presenting the Nutcracker ballet for the first time ever this holiday season with a local twist. The company is taking the Tchaikovsky classic and setting it right here in SLO County.

It's hard to believe, but the Nutcracker ballet was a bit of a flop when it debuted in 1892. It's amazing what 132 years can do.

The Nutcracker is now a Christmastime classic, enchanting audiences around the globe. With its magical storyline, stunning design, and elegant dance elements it has become a favorite of national ballet troupes and amateur groups alike. But it's never seen quite like the way it's about to be staged in San Luis Obispo.

“It was such an amazing opportunity to look at it a little differently and go, ‘hey, what, what do we really want to get out of this story that could bring a new way of seeing this really old story,” said Maartje Lawrence, the co-founder of SLOMAC.

Lawrence co-founded the Center with her husband, Ryan. They are co-creators and choreographers of The Nutcracker, a San Luis Obispo Story. The work was done in collaboration with the SLO History Center.

Rehearsals at the San Luis Obispo Movement Arts Center (SLOMAC).
Courtesy of Nicole Pratt with SLOMAC.
Rehearsals at the San Luis Obispo Movement Arts Center (SLOMAC).

The production sheds the backdrop of early 19th Century Germany and places the protagonist, Clara, in San Luis Obispo in 1894. There she interacts with a diverse array of inhabitants and cultures, including railroad workers, miners and Mexican rancheras.

Maartje Lawrence said they hoped to make the ballet, “more relatable for people to not just have this fantasy story but [have] one of our girls say ‘It's true. That could have been me back in 1890.”

SLOMAC’s Nutcracker is retold from Clara’s perspective and highlights cultural and historical landmarks specific to SLO.

In this reimagining, Clara’s journey starts on Buchon Street, where the protected and sheltered child falls into a slumber. She then awakens to a journey through SLO’s Chinatown, where she witnesses the laborers who make up SLO. These characters replace the characters in act II of the original, when Clara enters the sugar plum forest.

Courtesy of Nicole Pratt with SLOMAC.
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Courtesy of Nicole Pratt with SLOMAC.
A costume shoot for SLOMAC's production of the Nutcracker ballet.

“She kind of sneaks out and figures out ways to see different parts of the town with people that she's never met, and her eyes open wide and her heart goes, ‘oh my gosh like I didn't know this was all out here,'” Lawrence said.

The ballet ensemble features about 60 dancers from SLOMAC ranging in age from six to 45. This production is 12-year-old dancer Sophia Bastille’s first Nutcracker production, and portrays a ranchera.

“I learned the Mexican culture even though I am Mexican, but I learned lots of things. I learned what the miners did here and how the Chinese did everything,” she said, “ It's really cool to see all of the different cultures coming together.”

Unlike the original Nutcracker, which has been criticized in some quarters for its oversimplification and appropriation of different cultures, this adaptation strives to approach the region’s complicated cultural past with respect and appreciation for the hard times people endured in 1894.

“It wasn’t like, ‘yay, happy, happy,’ but we tried to incorporate their story, [so] that around the holidays, they all had their own traditions and ways to celebrate together. And that's what we're trying to bring into the ballet,” Lawrence said.

One standout feature of The Nutcracker, a San Luis Obispo Story is its set design, which includes a store that was owned by a man named Ah Louis. He was responsible for contracting Asian laborers who laid the first railway tracks in the county.

A costume shoot for SLOMAC's production of the Nutcracker ballet.
Courtesy of Nicole Pratt with SLOMAC.
A costume shoot for SLOMAC's production of the Nutcracker ballet.

Another scene was readapted to replace Mother Ginger—the traditional old women in a shoe—with a laundromat owner to honor Chinese-American laundry business in SLO at the time.

This Nutcracker adaptation localizes the story in other ways, like by highlighting coastal dairy workers, Carrizo Plain wildflowers, and a California rattlesnake, which stands in for the traditional Mouse King.

18 year old dancer Ava Porter, attends Cal Poly, and said the production has taught her a lot about SLO history. She’s eager to perform the show before an audience.

“Seeing all the props and all the choreography and everything come together has been really magical,” Porter said.

The ballet will be performed at the Harold J. Miossi Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CPAC) at Cuesta College on Friday and Saturday December 20th and 21st.

Tickets are available for The Nutcracker, a San Luis Obispo Story at cuesta.universitytickets.com

This reporting is made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County.

Yalina Harris began at KCBX in January of 2024 as an intern in our newsroom. Her talent on the mic led her to begin training as a substitute announcer. You can occasionally hear her as a local host on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. Yalina then began as a stringer for KCBX News during the summer of 2024.
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