Given Sitka’s coastal location, its mild winters don’t always bring snow. Yet inside one of the practice rooms at Sitka Studio of Dance, a dozen ballerinas conjure up a snowstorm through their energetic leaps and spins, scattering white confetti with gusto as their toes glide across the floor. This number is the act one finale in Sitka Nutcracker, The Land of the Sweets.
Since 1998, Sitkans of all ages have banded together to put on the biennial production, from choreographing and performing in numbers to designing set pieces and keeping watch over the young dancers backstage. As the founder and volunteer director of the Sitka Nutcracker since its inception, the labor and organization required to bring the production to life is something Melinda McAdams, and her community, knows all too well.
“Everybody wants to know if this is a nutcracker year, because they can’t keep track,” said McAdams. “So every time they see me, they’re like, ‘How are you doing? Is this a nutcracker year?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, it’s a nutcracker year.’ And they’re [like] ‘Oh, you must be tired.’ Yeah, it’s good.”
For the past few years, the Sitka Nutcracker alternates its theme, with every other year highlighting the flora, fauna and fishermen of Alaska . With the Land of the Sweets, audiences can expect the adorable hijinks of the young gumdrop dancers, and enthusiastic chefs serving up marzipan and coffee. This production also marks the return of the Cavalier and Sugarplum Fairy characters to the Sitka Performing Arts Center stage, the latter of whom is the only character to perform in pointe shoes. Both characters are played by McAdams’ adult children, Kinkaid Parsons and Delaney McAdams respectively. Parsons is also reprising the role of the titular Nutcracker. While McAdams loves that Sitkans can see elements of their environment and lives reflected on the stage in the Alaska themed shows, she hopes that audiences will embrace the chance to immerse themselves in the pure fantasy the Land of the Sweets has to offer.
“When you do the Alaska theme, the whole point is you came to Sitka, right? And you did the things that happened in Sitka, which is really fun to see things that look familiar to you through dance. And that’s great. And I love that,” said McAdams. “But I think it is sometimes just fun to let go and be like ‘She went to the land of the sweets, and who knows what’s gonna happen next!’ It’s it’s all up for grabs.”
It’s the first time the company has put on the candy-themed show since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. McAdams said that while their social distancing requirements have since gone into retirement (with the remaining physical remnants being tape marks on the floor from their social distancing boxes and hand sanitizer readily available at all times), the pandemic spurred a shift in dance culture toward prioritizing dancers’ physical and mental wellbeing, rather than encouraging them to push through sickness and pain.
“I have a couple kids with injuries right now, some adults with injuries, and so we’re working on, what are we going to do to make this work for you? We want you to be involved, but we don’t want to hurt you. So can we change things?,” said McAdams. “And I think that’s empowering in a lot of ways, that we don’t have to do it the way we used to do it. We can take people where they are, make adjustments to what they need to do and make it work, and it will be just fine.”
It is this very lesson of compassion McAdams had to apply to herself as she navigated a health problem earlier in the year. As a result, Parsons has stepped up to act as McAdams’ right-hand-man, as well as choreographing a number involving human-sized candy canes. Parsons feels his upbringing within the Nutcracker has prepared him for this greater responsibility.
“I am fortunate that throughout all of my years of performing in the Nutcracker, I kind of was also behind the scenes, not helping, but definitely observing and watching what happens behind the scenes, since Melinda is my mother. So I do have the knowledge of what needs to happen,” said Parsons. “I’ve never done it before, so that’s a bit of a more responsibility aspect to this year, but it’s a lot of fun to see it all come together.”
And he’s not the only one who has stepped up to support McAdams. After confiding with her three other choreographers, they stepped up to take on additional pieces.
“And I couldn’t be more grateful to them, those women and men are just amazing to me, the energy that they bring and the creativity that they bring to their dances,” said McAdams.
As opening night for The Nutcracker draws closer, the performers are excited to bring the beloved show back to Sitka. For dancer Anna Brecheisen, who is performing in her second Nutcracker as an adult, it is an honor to join a production that has been a part of her life since childhood.
“I love the tradition of The Nutcracker,” said Brecheisen. “It’s something that I’ve been either going to watch or been dancing in my whole life, whether it was here or back home. And going to see the Nutcracker when I was, like, three years old, was the thing that originally made me start wanting to do ballet when I was a kid, so it will always hold a very special place in my heart.”
From less experienced dancers’ fast improvement to the incredible work of the prop designers, McAdams is incredibly proud of how the community came together to bring this upcoming production to life.
“We call it the Sitka Nutcracker, not just the Nutcracker, because we want everybody to know this is ours,” said McAdams. “We did this together with the help of the town, all the people that come together to support the dancers and the stage crew and all the parents.”
As the Land of the Snow’s score reaches its conclusion, the snowflakes send Marie and the Nutcracker away in a sled, waving them off warmly as they make their way to the Land of the Sweets. The snowflakes pose proudly in the song’s final crescendos, ready to welcome Sitkans with them to a land of pure fantasy.
“The Sitka Nutcracker: The Land of the Sweets” will be playing at the Sitka Performing Arts Center from December 5th through 7th.
