COVID-19 threatened this Columbus Christmas tradition. Here’s how the show will go on.
It’s been a Christmas tradition in the Chattahoochee Valley for 24 consecutive years: the Columbus Ballet performing “The Nutcracker” on stage and in front of a live audience. But the COVID-19 pandemic required a different plan for the show to go on in 2020.
Instead of paying for tickets to one of three showtimes in the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, folks have multiple chances to watch the production — for free — that was filmed at six locations throughout Columbus.
The performance will be televised on WXTX Fox-54 Dec. 12 from 8-10 p.m. and Dec. 20 immediately following the 1 p.m. Atlanta Falcons game. It also will be streamed live on the TV station’s Facebook page during the Dec. 12 broadcast and will remain available there indefinitely for subsequent viewing.
“We did not want to just say no to our dancers and not provide an opportunity for them to do what they’re used to doing every year,” Columbus Ballet managing producer Bridget Adams said. “So we kind of put our heads together.”
‘Come together’
Adams, producing coordinator Laura Johnson and artistic director Kylie Casino devised the plan. Jef and Sara Lynn Holbrook of Argo Navis Studios filmed it. The Knight Foundation Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley paid for most of it.
“The community has really come together to fund this, and a big reason this is happening is because the Knight Foundation joined us in this effort,” Adams said.
The dancers wore masks and were filmed mostly outside at locations unique to the city and relevant to “The Nutcracker” story:
- Columbus Botanical Garden
- Columbus Convention & Trade Center
- Columbus Museum
- Columbus Public Library
- Columbus State University Rankin Gardens & Atrium
- National Civil War Naval Museum
Practices in the Rankin studios also required masks, temperature checks, sanitizing hands and the rooms between sessions, smaller classes than usual, staggered start times and social distancing.
The coronavirus restrictions meant all the dancers in the party scene of “The Nutcracker” couldn’t rehearse together until they were on set for their first filming day.
After more than 60 hours of filming during 13 days in November, Adams is eager to view the whole show.
“We have seen maybe two or three 15-second clips,” she said. “Watching the dancers do it in person and then looking at the way the Holbrooks transformed it on the camera is amazing.”
The music comes from publicly available recordings instead of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s live performance.
‘Super impressive’
The toughest part for the dancers at those outside locations, Adams said, was not having a sprung floor.
“Some of them were dancing on pebbles, concrete, hay, mud — it was something else — but I don’t think I ever heard one of them complain,” she said. “They were laughing. It was kind of comical for them. That was super impressive that they were able to pull that together.”
After filming at the Columbus Botanical Garden, the dancers who played the flowers were quite a sight, Adams recalled.
“Their beautiful pink shoes and tights were covered in mud,” she said, “and they were totally sunburned.”
In addition to the perseverance of the dancers, Adams is grateful for the potential of the broadcast to “reach a huge audience,” whether on TV, Facebook, or the downloadable version for schools.
Adams declined to disclose the cost of this year’s production, but she did say not having ticket revenue from “The Nutcracker” — with an average audience of about 1,000 per showtime — has cost the Columbus Ballet an estimated $60,000. That’s approximately half of its annual budget.
The broadcast will include information about how to donate to the Columbus Ballet.
‘Feels really good’
Those contributions help children such as Mary Frances Young learn ballet and perform in such a grand production. She is one of the 77 members of this year’s cast from the CSU Youth Dance Conservatory or other local dance studios, along with adults in the community and two professionals.
Mary Frances, 11, a sixth-grader at Brookstone School, plays the central character, Clara. After taking ballet lessons for nine years and performing in “The Nutcracker” five times, she feared COVID-19 would steal her chance for this starring role. That’s why she especially cherishes it.
“It feels really good because I know this is something all the dancers and teachers really enjoy, and parents enjoy it too,” she said. “It feels really good that everyone wanted to support us and help us make this happen.”
Wearing a mask while dancing “wasn’t too bad,” Mary Frances said. “For some dances, longer dances, it was really hard because you were jumping up and down and running all over the place.”
Labor law required all the child dancers to have a guardian on set. Despite the long days, Mary Maurice Young praised the producers for allowing her to form marvelous memories of watching her daughter being filmed.
“I got to see her dancing really up close, and I would never have gotten to do that if it had been live at the RiverCenter,” she said. “… It ended up being a really happy thing. I’m just real excited to see how it turns out.”
