As a young girl growing up in New York City, Malibu’s leading dance patron, Liane Weintraub, remembered being transfixed by the world’s great ballet companies. Fortunately for Malibu, that Terpsichorean love has assured the continuation of one of Malibu’s traditional holiday treats: the Malibu Ballet and Performing Arts Society’s annual production of Tchaikovsky’s classic, “The Nutcracker.”
This year, the beloved holiday ballet will be performed at the Smothers Theatre at Pepperdine University this Friday through Sunday. A customary special performance is also set for Friday morning for a bus-full of inner-city children yet to be exposed to the magic of Clara, her Nutcracker Prince and the kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Malibu will be able to appreciate this annual theatrical treat thanks to the commitment and financial support of patrons like Weintraub, who regularly beat the financial bushes to drum up the donations necessary to meet the fiscal demands of staging a bigger and better performance each year.
“This company is really a jewel,” Weintraub said. “And this annual performance is so important to Malibu as a symbol of keeping the arts alive and flourishing. Productions like ‘The Nutcracker’ spark imagination in children and must be cherished.”
Weintraub knows whereof she speaks. She is the founder of the Center Dance Association of the Music Center—the principal engine that lures the world’s top dance companies to perform at L.A.’s premier performance venue downtown. She ropes in major donors, like the illustrious dance philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, who donated $20 million to the CDA in 2009.
She also founded the Friends of Center Dance, a nod to the reality that not everyone who loves ballet can meet the thousands-of-dollars donations expected of the serious dance patron.
“My Mom was a great advocate for the arts and I grew up in a place where dance and theatre were simply a part of the culture,” Weintraub said. “When I moved to Los Angeles, I realized that you didn’t really find appreciation for dance at such a high level. That’s changing now.”
Weintraub said the biggest test to producing “The Nutcracker” every year was meeting the budget demands, particularly when the company wants to keep ticket prices as low as possible to keep the production as accessible as possible to everyone.
When “The Nutcracker” is sometimes the only exposure to classical ballet some people ever experience, it can be a challenge to come up with bigger and better each year. The ballet does have its perennial favorites: the Sugar Plum Fairy’s pas de deux with her Cavalier Prince, the Waltz of the Flowers and the ever-endearing Mother Ginger–a very tall woman who hides her little Polichinelles, or gingerbread children, under an enormous hoop skirt.
This year, Mother Ginger is being played by local artist Ben Jacob (the role is frequently performed by a man because the costume is fairly elaborate and heavy).
“Ben is just as campy as he can be,” said director and choreographer (and Malibu Civic Ballet Company’s Artistic Director) Diane Linder. “We seem to just expand more every year. This year, we’ll have 70 people on stage.”
Many of her dancers train at the Malibu Civic Ballet Academy (located at 5 Point Yoga in Malibu). But in recent years, Linder has had the luxury of hiring professional dancers to perform the larger roles.
This year, Linder is excited to have a dance company called White Tree Fine Arts—husband and wife team, Nikki and Ethan White—dance the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.
“Nikki and Ethan were top-three finalists in Paula Abdul’s ‘Live to Dance’ competition,” Linder said. “They’re so much in love and it translates so sweetly to the stage. The beauty of it is that I get to rechoreograph the show depending on the experience of the dancers I hire. The whole production becomes more difficult and accomplished.”
But, of course, many of her dancers come straight from her academy and start training at age three. Weintraub’s eight-year-old daughter, Ava, will be dancing the role of a gumdrop.
“I am thrilled to direct and choreograph such talented, dedicated local Malibu dancers,” Linder said. “It is invaluable to encourage community-based arts and help these young dancers grow and develop their skills and talents in a safe, nurturing environment, where they can find their authentic selves through expressing themselves in the arts.”
Academy dancers start rehearsing for “The Nutcracker” in September, so the annual production represents a substantial portion of their artistic efforts each year.
“I truly believe they can change our world with their accomplishments,” Linder said. “‘The Nutcracker’ is the perfect Christmas classic to express their gifts to the Malibu community.”
“The Nutcracker” will be performed at Smothers Theatre Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For tickets call 310.506.4522.
