Wooster dancers to appear in Ohio Conservatory production
Annie Cors, left, Eliza Symonds and Faith Chanay will appear in the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet’s “Nutcracker.”
Catching a performance of “The Nutcracker Ballet” is often the centerpiece of the holiday season for families. The well-known Christmas production will be presented by the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet on Nov. 24 at 6 p.m. and Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. at Firestone High School in Akron, 470 Castle Blvd.
The conservatory is operated by Inna Stabrova, who owns and runs the conservatory with her husband Dmitriy Tuboltsev. The presentation will focus on the Russian influences prevalent in the 126-year-old ballet. The performance is presented by Stabrova Youth Ballet Company Inc., which is trained by the Green-based Ohio Conservatory of Ballet.
Three local dancers, Annie Cors, Eliza Symonds and Faith Chanay, all of Wooster, will dance roles in “The Nutcracker.”
Faith Chanay, who is 11 years old and a student at Edgewood Middle School, began dancing at about age 5, her mother Kimberly Chanay said. “She has always enjoyed dancing and performing. She has been rehearsing steadily since August, just after auditions for the show.”
Kimberly Chanay said her family learned of the auditions through a friend who also had a daughter studying with the conservatory. “He said it was an absolutely wonderful experience for her, so we looked further into it,” she said.
Faith Chanay would like to one day dance for the internationally renowned Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. “She is dancing easily more than 15 hours a week in preparation, in rehearsals and at home. She says the kitchen is for dancing,” Kimberly Chaney said.
Kimberly Symonds said her daughter Eliza also began dancing at the age of 5, beginning at the Wayne Center for the Arts. Eliza Symonds, who is now 14 and schooled at home, auditioned in August as well.
“She really wasn’t nervous,” Kimberly Symonds said. “She was certainly excited.”
Kimberly Symonds said her daughter wears out point shoes, which require careful selection for her feet, every 12-15 hours of rehearsing. “We have to replace several pair per month,” Kimberly Symonds said.
Eliza Symonds is dancing six to seven hours per week in “The Nutcracker” rehearsals and is appearing in five separate segments of the ballet performance.
Annie Cors has approached “The Nutcracker” from a different starting point, coming from Center Stage Dance Studio in Northfield. She began dancing at age 9 and is now 13 and a student at Seton Catholic School in Hudson.
“She uses ballet to strengthen her other dance interests in contemporary and jazz,” her mother Bizzie Cors said. “She began in figure skating but has found dancing to be so important to her that she has given up the skating, at least for now. She loves performing, and she is very pleased with dancing, so we’re happy about that.”
Conservatory founder Stabrova said the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet, which she and her husband established in 2000, is the only school in Northeast Ohio to use the Vaganova method of training in ballet. She said the presentation at Firestone High School also has other Russian roots.
Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Ballet” was first presented by the Russian Imperial Ballet in 1892. Though parts of the show found immediate success, the ballet itself did not until the 1960s. It has since become one of the most popular works in dance around the world.
Tickets for “The Nutcracker” are available online at www.syballet.org or www.ohballet.com.