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.

A group of ballerinas lifts their dance partners (Courtesy of Sitka Studio of Dance)

Are you an experienced dancer looking to connect with fellow dancers in Sitka? Or maybe you have never danced before and are looking to try something new? Regardless of your experience, Melinda McAdams and Jo DeBell believe that dance is for you. They join KCAW to talk about the free dance classes the Sitka Studio of Dance are offering next week in a wide variety of dance styles.

Recitals are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at fineartscamp.org and at the door.

Fireweed Dance Guild will hold Beatles-inspired recitals this Saturday, May 6; dancers of all ages will perform in genres ranging from hip-hop to ballet. Director Melinda McAdams and seventh-graders Wren Flowers and Morgan Hames joined KCAW’s Brooke Schafer to talk about the upcoming shows. Listen to the full interview here:

Performances are scheduled by age group for 11am, 3pm, and 7pm on Saturday, May 6 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available online at fineartscamp.org or at the door.

New Archangel Dancers Tori Hay, Celeste Tydinco, and Heleena VanVeen, along with Sitka Studio of Dance director Melinda McAdams, share details of this weekend’s dance fundraiser for St. Michael’s Cathedral (6 p.m. Saturday, May 21,  Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi, $20/10 at Old Harbor Books or at the door).

This winter, dancers at the Sitka Studio of Dance put away their Nutcracker costumes and began preparations for the annual Fireweed Dance Theatre performance. Director Melinda McAdams and dancer Aitana Gluth joined KCAW’s Erin Fulton to discuss the show. Listen here:

Melinda McAdams, the director of Fireweed Dance Theatre will join us to promote an upcoming performance on March 5th. 

The Fireweed Dance Theater performs at the Sitka Performing Arts Center this Satuday, March 5 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online or at the door.

Nancy Neal teaches at the Sitka Studio of Dance, but her classes have now gone digital (Screenshot from one of Neal’s hip-hop classes)

Between a local hunker down order and a statewide stay-at-home mandate, many Sitkans are spending a lot of time indoors. But sheltering in place doesn’t mean giving up on physical activity, as local fitness and dance classes are going virtual. 

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Sitka Studio of Dance instructor Nancy Neal has hit pause on in-person classes. But like other teachers at the studio, she’s still reaching her hip-hop students, through video lessons. 

Neal teaches four classes a week, mostly hip-hop and some musical theater, to students from 4 to 13 years old. Neal says she’s happy to help them continue dancing, to give them a chance to move around and have some fun now that many other forms of sports and socializing are suspended.

“We just wanna keep going because we want the kids to keep moving and we want to keep them active,” she said.

But reworking her teaching strategy has also brought challenges, as she and other dance instructors have to learn to be their own videographers.

“It’s been a little challenging, to be honest,” she said. “It does require a little bit of extra time and extra work for us.” 

And sometimes she needs to go back and re-record something if there’s a mistake. 

But if the videos are frustrating to produce, you won’t hear it in Neal’s tone once the music starts. 

While Neal says it’s sad not being in the same place with her students, she does get some in-person teaching assistance from her four year-old son, like in a stretching exercise included in one of the video lessons. 

“Here we go, nice and loud,” Neal says in the video. She’s seated on the floor with her son. They begin counting together, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Good job hands up to the sky again.”

Dancers aren’t the only ones going virtual these days. With the Hames Center also closed, fitness classes are moving online. 

After a brief hiatus, Cindy Edwards is once again teaching her Total Body Conditioning workout class, using the video chat platform Zoom. Twice a week, the same diehards gather for a normal TBC class, with the now familiar twist of everyone appearing in little boxes on a computer screen. 

With the Hames Center closed until further notice, at least one fitness instructor has taken her class online. (Ari Snider/KCAW)

“It started just from mostly I think going a little stir crazy and then missing each other,” Edwards said.

Edwards said I was welcome to record part of a class for this story — so long as I was also sweating. Which didn’t take long. 

Edwards says the class has changed as a result of moving online. She can’t walk around the room and adjust people’s form. And without the normal set of dumb bells, they also have to improvise their own free weights. 

“Another person had these huge rocks,” she said, recalling a recent workout. “And I was like ‘Do you guys know how much those weigh?’ and they’re like ‘Nope, no idea!’ So it’s kind of like a Flintstones workout for those people.”

Edwards says she feels the benefits of her workout classes as much as anyone. At a time when it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the state of the world, she says working up a sweat and getting those endorphins flowing is more important than ever. 

“Right now, with all the stress that people are living with and all the uncertainty, it’s really important just to focus on something else for a while,” she said.

But if you’re looking for a way to release endorphins, and fitness classes aren’t your thing- Nancy Neal, the hip-hop instructor has an idea- virtual disco. She recently livestreamed a dance party on Facebook and Instagram, encouraging her friends to tune in and get down, from the comfort of their own homes. It was a hit, she says — a bunch of people asked when she’ll do it again.

Downloadable audio.

Sitkans can dance! Want proof? Sitka Studio Dance hosts an evening of solos, duets, and small group performances by locals across genres on November 10th, 7 p.m. at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Director Melinda McAdams and dancer Allison Winger talk about the program, which began in 2014 and takes place every other year. Unlike the American reality television show, “So You Think You Can Dance,” the event allows participants to decide whether or not they want to be judged.

To participate, dancers must be 13 years and older. All genres of dance welcome. Costuming and choreography help is available. The deadline to sign-up is September 1st. Call Melinda McAdams 966-2557 with questions or to register.

Downloadable audio.

Fireweed Dance Theater is holding a performance this Friday, March 4th. Melinda McAdams directs Sitka Studio Dance and is joined by three Fireweed dancers.

From Sitka Studio of Dance’s website:

Fireweed Dance Guild is excited to present Fireweed Dance Theatre’s Gala Performance on Saturday, March 4th at 7pm at the Performing Arts Center. This is Sitka’s local concert dance company and will present pieces in a variety of dance styles. The show is family friendly and typically lasts for 1 hour and fifteen minutes with an intermission. Tickets are available at Old Harbor Books (2 weeks before the show), from company members, and at the door. For more information, call Melinda at 966-2557.

The upcoming event Sitkans Can Dance is intended to expose the community to a wide variety of dance styles through both solo and couples dancing.

Sitkans Can Dance is sponsored by the Greater Sitka Arts Council and the Sitka Studio of Dance and will take place this Saturday, Oct 22 7pm at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.

For more information, visit http://www.thinkartthinksitka.com/state-fair/sitkans-can-dance/