The Roxey Ballet is thrilled to bring back its holiday classic, “The Nutcracker.” This acclaimed annual favorite has become a tradition of area residents and holiday visitors alike. The magical Christmas ballet set to the music of Tchaikovsky returns to the Villa Victoria Theater in Ewing, New Jersey, for its 29th season from November 30th to December 8th, 2024. The Roxey Ballet is also proud to present a sensory-friendly performance on December 14th, providing a welcoming and supportive environment for children, adults, and families with special needs. Virtual performances are also available.
“The Nutcracker” tells the story of Clara and her friends who take audiences on an enchanting voyage to meet magical mice, giant rats, marching soldiers, swirling snowflakes, waltzing flowers and the lovely Sugar Plum Fairy. Brilliant costumes and elaborate sets draw the audience into a heartwarming journey, ushering in the seasonal spirit. Audiences can also expect a visit from Santa and his jolly friends during the show.
“The Roxey Ballet’s sensory-friendly version is supportive for young children or neurodiverse people, people with autism, and individuals with other disabilities,” says Lees Hummel, the dance company’s director of outreach and education. “We shortened the performance, so, it's not a full two hours. We perform it up close and personal, so there's not a lot of distance between the audience and dancers,” adds Hummel, who is a classically trained dancer. “We also provide opportunities for audience members to come up on stage and touch the costumes, talk to the cast, and to get a sense and a feel for what they're about to see.”
The sensory-friendly performance and environment are adapted to maximize comfort and accessibility, including a lower volume, no startling lighting effects, and house lights remain on. There are designated quiet areas for taking breaks. There are storyboards outlining performance plots that are accessible to attendees. “And then the most important thing is that audience members are allowed to bring their tablets (and other electronic devices),” says Hummel. “We give them some fidget toys, and they're allowed to get up and move around during the show. They're also allowed to speak during the show.”
Hummel points out that Roxey Ballet has always reached out to the disabled community since its inception in 1995. It has been a part of the organization’s mission to follow an American with Disabilities Act (ADA) plan to allow for accessible performances and spaces. In fact, the company in the past started a dance program for wheelchair bound and seated dancers, Hummel says.
Roxey Ballet began as the Hunterdon Youth Ballet when professional dancers, Mark and Melissa Roxey, brought world-class professional dance training and performance opportunities to Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania. “When the ballet started, I really wanted to make sure that my work reached people and places that normally would not get the opportunity to experience dance performance. Because when I was a little boy, I was exposed to dance through an outreach program,” says Mark Roxey.
Roxey was in kindergarten when he attended an afterschool program held at the time at the American Ballet Theatre. “That experience transformed my life into wanting to go into the field of dance. Since I was five years old, I've dedicated my entire life to dance,” he says.
As a Latino youth growing up in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Roxey used breakdancing as a creative form of expression. He performed with the hip-hop dance group Fresh Kids From Coney Island and received a full scholarship to New York’s renowned Joffrey Ballet School.
The Roxey Ballet is a world-class, all-inclusive contemporary ballet company that is critically acclaimed throughout the United States for its out-of-the-box performances. The company prides itself on building community and cultural bridges through dance. The company’s longevity can be attributed to “community,” says Roxey. “It's a community that lifts you up and supports you.”
What drives him is trying to connect with people who are experiencing dance for the first time or re-experiencing it. “Your why has to be bigger than yourself,” Roxey says. “My why is making the world a better place through dance and transforming the lives of the people that are on stage, in the audience, in the community, and in the schools (where the Roxey Ballet does outreach).”
Roxey’s first exposure to “The Nutcracker” was when he was 15 years old. “The way I saw “The Nutcracker” for the first time is I was in “The Nutcracker,” he says. Roxey started dancing professionally at age 16, beginning his career with the Joffrey Ballet Company II.
“The Nutcracker” is one of the most popular ballets performed by professional dance companies and schools every year around Christmas time. The story of “The Nutcracker” comes from “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” an 1816 short story by German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King. The story was adapted into a ballet by French novelist Alexandre Dumas (“The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo”).
Over the years, Roxey has performed many of the roles in his own company’s productions of the Christmas ballet, everything from Uncle Drosselmeyer to The Cavalier. What sets apart this latest production of “The Nutcracker” is that “it is the most acceptable, the most child-friendly professional production that you're going to find,” Roxey says.
To learn more about “The Nutcracker” and to purchase tickets visit the Roxey Ballet’s website at https://www.roxeyballet.org/nutcracker.
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