Nov 2012 - Nassau Journals
Nov 2012 - Nassau Journals
Nov 2012 - Nassau Journals
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THE JOURNAL NOVEMBER <strong>2012</strong> 3<br />
Interviewing a Home Grown Ballet<br />
Celebrity: Alexis Branagan Interviews<br />
Stephen Campanella.<br />
What first attracted you to ballet and<br />
to Princeton Ballet School?<br />
At the age of 2, I saw a video of<br />
Baryshnikov dancing in The Nutcracker<br />
and was immediately captivated. I went<br />
to a local dance school at 3, and the<br />
owner directed me to Princeton Ballet<br />
School, the Official School of American<br />
Repertory Ballet, where I was enrolled at<br />
the age of 4.<br />
When did you begin performing in<br />
American Repertory Ballet’s Nutcracker?<br />
I grew up in West Windsor and<br />
started performing in ARB’s Nutcracker<br />
at age 5. Over my childhood years, I was<br />
a mouse, the youngest boy in the party<br />
scene, and Fritz, Clara’s obnoxious<br />
younger brother; the last of those suited<br />
me perfectly. (Now he dances the role of<br />
Soldier Doll in Act I of Nutcracker.) It<br />
was a wonderful experience on a number<br />
of levels: the thrill of performing in a professional production,<br />
the backstage camaraderie of the children, the early lesson in commitment<br />
of one’s time, effort, and love. It also provided excellent on<br />
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stage experience from a very early age.<br />
Children who perform learn how the<br />
theater works. They are also inspired by<br />
company members, learn how to perform<br />
for an audience, above and beyond<br />
the technique one learns in the classroom.<br />
It is said that practice makes perfect,<br />
and the more you perform, the<br />
better you get at it.<br />
In what ways do you think ARB’s Nutcracker<br />
is a uniquely local tradition?<br />
The Nutcracker forms a uniquely<br />
American tradition, despite the German<br />
origins of the story and the Franco-Russian<br />
origins of the ballet. Almost everywhere<br />
else in the world, The Nutcracker<br />
is performed as just another part of a<br />
ballet company’s repertory; only here is<br />
it an annual holiday tradition with a<br />
special local flair.<br />
ARB has been performing The Nutcracker<br />
in central New Jersey for almost<br />
50 years, with local children joining the<br />
company on stage to dance for local audiences<br />
in venues such as McCarter Theatre<br />
in Princeton and State Theatre in New Brunswick. It has become<br />
a Central Jersey family tradition.<br />
continued on page 14<br />
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