While students at San Luis Obispo High School prepared for their finals or Thanksgiving dinner with their families, a select number of our peers were practicing for the Civic Ballet’s yearly production of The Nutcracker, a ballet based on the story of a young girl and her nutcracker she received as a gift for Christmas. Going to the yearly showing of this spectacular presentation of our local dancers has fit its way into the holiday routine of many SLOHS families.

Expressions takes a look into the endless hours and effort these young artists put into a show we all know so well.

“People do not understand that we literally start preparing for the next year’s show the day after it ends. We are training and in classes and attending intensive programs over the summer strengthening our dancing all year long for this show. The dancers live for the Nutcracker each year – so much so that we write out fake cast lists predicting who will be dancing what role before they are officially released. We put an endless amount of work into this production and it includes a cast of not just dancers but about 130 people total including the orchestra, stage crew, dancers, directors, parent volunteers, stage builders; etc,” said senior Cami Love, who was in her fourth year of The Nutcracker production.

The group of dancers is made up of a majority of high schoolers, or even younger, who work all year to put on the show. They go through countless dress rehearsals that run late into school nights. During this time of year, while some students who do not attend SLOHS may be preparing for the end of semester finals, many give up study hours to dance. This doesn’t take away from the excitement.

“It’s a life changing experience. As a young dancer you always look up to the older, more advanced dancers in the company and want to be like them. It’s crazy to think that you pretty much work for years to be able to dance on stage in front of 1500 people. Especially with the community show, it’s heartwarming to see younger, underprivileged children be so inspired by our work. It’s the best use of my time during this time of year, the company begins rehearsals in late September and depending on your roles, we usually rehearsal daily from around 6:30-9:30 or 10 [p.m.]. We have a whole crew of parents to help with set changes, construction, costumes and makeup and there’s no way we could be so successful without their help,” said junior Greta Carlson.

Love and Carlson are only two of the many students at SLOHS that perform in Civic Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Although this year’s shows came to an end this past weekend, their training and excitement for next year’s shows begin now.