Photograph by Chad Pilster
Feeling Mousey: Lanae de Castro, 9, Tamara Soulés, 8, and Natasha Madigan, 9, rehearse their mousing skills for the upcoming 'Nutcracker' ballet.
Three Lithe Mice
In this year's 'Nutcracker' ballet, some of the Mouse King's subjects are Campbell natives
By Genevieve Roja
There's a minor rumbling inside the School of San Jose Cleveland Ballet. It turns out that the floor of the dance studio, located on North Second Street in downtown San Jose, is teeming with dozens of little mouse-children who are rehearsing for this year's production of Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker.
Today the little girls, whose ages range from 6 to 11, aren't in costume. They're dressed in traditional ballet garb--tight, bobby-pinned hair bun, black leotard, pink garter belt, tights and slippers. There is also one red-haired boy with glasses dressed in a white T-shirt, black leotard pants and slippers.
Suddenly, Donna Delseni, school director and principal teacher, turns on the music and the mice emerge from what will be "backstage" in single file and jump into formation. One after another they pitter-patter onstage, hunched over, elbows tucked in and palms faced downward, like dogs begging for food. Soon, the mice are marching with high knees, stretching toward the ceiling, then on their backs, wiggling their feet in the air. Along the glass wall of the studio, underneath the wooden bar, are about two dozen other mice, fidgeting in their seats, making silly faces at one another, or gazing at the mice before them, waiting for their cue.
Other non-mice are involved, too. About five or six "soldiers"--the teenagers of the company--are lying prone with the mice, who are now gnawing and scratching at their legs. Then ballet teacher Charles Torres does a mock death scene, and the "mourners" come out, with yellow and pink scarves, shaking their heads in disbelief. The music subsides; the audience claps in the background; and the curtain goes down.
"I really want you to remember to keep the energy," Delseni instructs the mice. "And lift the knees! Okay, go take a break."
Some of the mice bolt toward the bathrooms while others make a beeline to the water-bottle dispenser. Two little girls no older than 6 or 7 are carrying on a nonsensical conversation.
"He's my cousin," one says.
"But your great-grandmother isn't your cousin," the other says, and giggles.
In the flurry of ballerinas, I track down the three Campbell natives: Lanae de Castro, 9; Tamara Soulés, 8; and Natasha Madigan, 9. After an hour of rehearsal, they're ready to talk. This is Lanae's first year in The Nutcracker, and she's excited. It's her seventh year dancing, and her second year with the company. Lanae, who attends Capri Elementary School, also dances at the Branham Dance Center.
"It's fun," Lanae says when I ask what she loves about dancing. "I like the jump [in the beginning sequence]. That was fun. I do that one step at home."
Tamara is the most animated of the bunch, practicing her turns and dance sequences on the floor of the administrative lobby area, where many of the students are greeted by their parents. Natasha, who's a student at Bagby Elementary along with Tamara, is more reserved, but just as talkative.
"I do gymnastics," says Tamara, who recently moved here from Florida with her mother, Kathy Bass. "The only time I'm free is after school. And I have singing lessons on Saturday."
Natasha, who has danced with the company for just 18 months, is also an accomplished fencer. Every Saturday at 10 a.m., she changes into a fencing uniform and mask, then darts over to the ballet company for 2 p.m. rehearsal.
"I'm busy every day of the week," she says. "Except Sunday--I go to church with my family."
When I ask Natasha if she's has had any difficulty learning her part, she admits it's been challenging. "It's sort of hard because I have a different part this year," she says. "I have a lot more steps than last year. I'm in the front of the third line."
So are the mice getting the jitters yet for tomorrow's opening-night performance?
"I'm sort of nervous but excited," Natasha says.
"I'm nervous, but I want to do it," says Tamara, as she cuts a turn on the rug following our interview.
Tamara's mother, Kathy, says she can't wait to see her daughter. She tells me I'm lucky I had the opportunity to sit in on rehearsal, because she hasn't, and there are only limited viewing hours for parents. She's seen her daughter flourish at the ballet school.
"Tamara has absolutely enjoyed herself," Bass says. "I don't mind if she takes [ballet] professionally or not. She'll be able to carry all the feminine qualities [that ballet teaches] through life. Confidence comes with ballet."
'The Nutcracker' runs Dec. 2-12 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. For ticket information, call 408.288.2800 or visit www.sanjoseclevelandballet.org.
Campbell, California
