Sugar Plum Fairy

The Nutcracker Ballet returns this weekend

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Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Russian in its roots and made a classic in America, is an open invitation for parents to rewind time and children to ready their hearts to an annual Christmas treat that requires no milk and cookies. This thrilling, seasonal drama, staging children and adults alike, teaches us that ballet is a universal language that all can understand but few can speak. 

The colorful illustration on stage is painted by characters ranging from parents and children to dancing mice and an army of gingerbread soldiers. However, for ballerina's across the nation, one particular role tends to be the "sweet deal" among the rest. The Sugar Plum Fairy embodies everything that is sweet, kind, gentle and welcoming. The fairy's role in the Ballet is to provide warm welcome to the prince (also seen as the Nutcracker) and Clara (the Nutcracker doll's owner). Audience members find The Sugar Plum Fairy as a sigh of relief and confirmation of safety due to the previous act where the prince fights the Mouse King. The Sugar Plum fairy is essential. 

Chyenne Klemme, fourth year dancer with the DanceSpace Studio in Page, Ariz, was cast as The Sugar Plum Fairy in the upcoming performance of The Nutcracker.

"This is the biggest casting I’ve ever had and it’s a role I have always wanted to play," Klemme said.

Klemme proves her character to mirror that of The Sugar Plum Fairy's whilst rehearsing in the dimly lit and intimately toned dance space just a week before the performance. With a soft demeanor and smooth yet precise twirls, Klemme is just the fairy the role requires. 

Jan Kocjan, her faithful instructor and dedicated support system, had nothing but pleasantries to share when speaking of Klemme.

"Chyenne was the most successful in auditions. She is in the advanced level and is ready to start thinking about being a professional."  

Klemme is known by her classmates and instructor to be hard-working and steadfast in her practices. 

Those who race to hang their icicle lights, relish in the Safeway ceilings singing of "The Most Wonderful time of the Year", and are ready to embark on all of the traditional "pre-gaming" before the warm-hearted, cold-footed days of Christmas; should quench their Christmas thirst by attending "DanceSpace's The Nutcracker."

The Nutcracker takes place this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults, $8 for students and seniors.