Neighborhood Nutcracker — Amber Willett

A Neighborhood Nutcracker

We’re making dances from The Nutcracker set against iconic sights from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. In part to celebrate the beauty of this dynamic city and landscape, in part to mourn what we have lost as it develops at fever pace, and in part to support artists—dancers, choreographers, videographers—when they need us most.

Premiering free and online December 2020

I. Prologue

Traditionally, the Nutcracker ballet opens with friends and guests journeying to the beautiful Staulbaum house where the holiday party at which Clara receives her nutcracker doll is beginning.

Here, my family and I cross the waters of Puget Sound on a ferry to Whidbey Island, where our journey begins…

II. Spanish Chocolate

For the traditional Chocolate dance, we went across the canal to the Fremont neighborhood and Seattle’s very own local chocolate factory. My friend Victoria, with whom I worked on Romeo and Juliet, was excited to choreograph and dance in this scene.

Choreography: Victoria Gutíerrez
Dancers: Mija Bishop, Victoria Gutiérrez
Venue: Theo Chocolate Factory, Fremont
Music: Tchaikovsky’s “Divertissement” by Moscow Radio Symphony
Costumes: Sponsored by City Opera Ballet

III. Turned-Out Tea

A collaboration with The Guild Dance Company, Turned Out Tea Party takes us to the International District, where we get started at Vital Tea Leaf before running out in the rain at Hing Hay Park. Hing Hay translates literally to "Celebrate Happiness Public Park” and figuratively to "Park for Pleasurable Gatherings." While we cannot gather fully, this year, we can celebrate the joy in dancing, and working together, even when our world is turned inside out.

Choreography: Alex Ung
Dancers: Prasti Purdum, Lisa Kwak, Karyn Tobin
Venue: Hing Hay Park, International District
Music: Tchaikovsky, Philadelphia Orchestra 1945
Director of Photography: Lionel Flynn

IV. Tap Trepak

Just down the street, Pike Place Market is still simmering. My friend, La’Twon Allen, brought it up to a sizzle on a drizzly morning.

Dancer: La’Twon Allen
Venue: Pike Place Market
Music: Russian Trepak
Film by: Amber Willett

V. The Last Waltz

In 2020, the Pink Elephant Car Wash in South Lake Union closed and the famous neon sign, a civic landmark since 1951, stopped spinning. With Pacific Northwest Ballet company member Abby Jane DeAngelo, I wanted to create an homage to that site, and to the vanishing Seattle it represents, with a little fun mixed in.

Dancers: Abby Jane DeAngelo & Amber Willett
Location: Pink Elephant Car Wash, South Lake Union
Music: Tchaikovsky, Arthur Rodzinski w/ New York Philharmonic, 1946
Film: Mischa & Amber Willett

Make a donation.

A Neighborhood Nutcracker is a labor of love. I made these dances because it is something I can do to create some sense of wonder for all the people who can’t go to the theater this year. All these dancers volunteered their time and talent for these performances, but if people want to leave a tip here, I’ll pass it along. All money goes straight to artists.

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For many of us, the dream starts as mouse. Or, perhaps it was sitting in the audience as you watched the tree grow miraculously from the floor of the stage, and snow fall from the ceiling between twirling tutus. We dream of being a party girl and which dress we might get to wear, or even one day, being the Sugar Plum fairy.

I couldn’t tell my daughter that one more thing was cancelled this year. Adding to the many changes and challenges we’ve all had to face, her heart almost broke when she heard there wasn’t going to be a Nutcracker Ballet performance. Trying to quickly encourage her, making it sound like it could still be special, that it will just be different, I said, “What if we make our own?” Her creative mind and sense of wonder jumped into action. “How are we going to do it?” Our whole family brain stormed, and she started imagining the costumes and drawing pictures of the set and characters. We were already dancing around our living room anyways...