'The Nutcracker' gets new Angels from former dean, staff costume designer

When UNC School of the Arts’ 50th annual production of “The Nutcracker” opens on Saturday, it will introduce eight brand-spanking new Angels — from the tops of their haloed heads to the tips of their pointed toes. Instead of the tiny tots in Russian-doll costumes of the past few years, the eight Angels will be young ballet dancers en pointe in flowing, romantic dresses.

Ethan Stiefel, former dance dean and star of stage and screen, and Kathryn Grillo, director of dance costume at UNCSA, have been collaborating online since mid-August. By the time Stiefel came to town for a week in November, Grillo’s crew had the costumes ready for inspection. The Angels open Act II of the ballet and lead the dancers and audience into fairyland where they are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

“It’s maybe something that Clara would dream about,” Grillo said. “The designs are taken from classical paintings that Ethan sent me, and I remember the angels on the Metropolitan Museum’s Christmas tree, and I always loved them, so I used them as well.” Clara is the little girl in “The Nutcracker” whose dreams and visions propel the story.

The dance costume shop started building the costumes in the middle of October. Grillo brought in Carolyn Fay, who previously had Grillo’s job, to build the wings; it took 225 hours and six weeks. It took Lisa Weller, one of the three full-time staffers, 350 hours to make the dresses.

“It’s interesting, because there’s a lot of craft work to be done as well as sewing the dresses,” Grillo said. “The wings have taken a lot of time and inventiveness to make them stay on the dancers well while they are dancing and to make halos that look more ethereal rather than looking like a headpiece.”

The dance costume shop is a separate department from the School of Design and Production. It has three full-time staffers, the occasional work-study student and a few “dedicated” volunteers, Grillo said. When the production calls for it, she brings in reinforcements.

picture: red carpet dresses

The other staffer, Melissa McCullough, the wardrobe supervisor, takes care of ordering shoes and other supplies. In addition to bringing back Fay, Grillo hired another extra person, Sarah Horvath, who did most of the sewing.

Every year, the hundreds of costumes used in the ballet have to be spruced up and altered to fit new dancers; that’s in addition to the creation of any new costumes such as this year’s Angels.

“Making dance costumes is a very specialized field,” Grillo said. “The costumes take specific techniques to make them dance and stay on and be modest.”

Grillo has been in this position for three years, but she has more than 20 years of experience designing, making costumes and teaching. She has also designed costumes for Piedmont Opera and the Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA.

Stiefel, a former principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, and Gillian Murphy, his wife and a current principal at ABT, spent time in November working with this year’s “Nutcracker” dancers.

Stiefel, who re-staged the opening scenes of the ballet in 2009, has created new choreography this year for the Angels. He and Murphy also coached the Sugar Plum Fairies. There are four students dancing the role this year — Emily DeVito, Madeline Wittmann, Yaman Kelemet and Ahna Lipchik — and a guest ballerina, Sofiane Sylve, from San Francisco Ballet who will perform it in the evening performances on Dec. 16 and 17. Tiit Helimets, also from San Francisco Ballet, will be Sylve’s Cavalier Prince.

“We are reworking, refreshing or refining and bringing details back and adjusting some things for the students who are here now,” Stiefel said.

“In the case of the Angels, I worked with patterns to see how they would take it and see what they were capable of. The scene opens with the orchestra and builds into the second act and the arrival of the guests at the court of the Sugar Plum Fairy, a big event.

“I’ve made it more flowing and lighter. It’s ethereal and elegant. The costumes are built so they can move easier holding candles and wearing wings.”

“The Nutcracker” is full of wonderful characters — a giant Mother Ginger with tiny dancers tucked under her skirt, the mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer, a Mouse King — but the most wonderful of them all might be the Sugar Plum Fairy, a role aspired to by most young dancers.

Murphy, a UNCSA alumna, danced the role here, unforgettably, in 2012, and is coaching the new Sugar Plums as she was coached by her teacher, the late Melissa Hayden.

“I like to ask who they are and what they are thinking or what do the steps mean to them to get them to bring the Sugar Plum character to life so that she is the gracious hostess of the second act,” Murphy said. “Melissa Hayden used to tell me, ‘You’re the hostess with the mostest.’

“She should be warm, generous and engaging at all times, and romantic with her partner.”

In a dance studio, weak light filters in from high windows. Three heights of barres are on three walls, and mirrors cover the fourth. Stiefel and Murphy repeatedly go over the tiniest details with the young dancers, perfecting and refining the Sugar Plum’s steps. DeVito, Wittmann and Lipchik take turns performing the piece and absorbing the coaching while Kelemet watches from the sidelines.

“Start low so that you have somewhere to go,” Stiefel says of a progressing step. Jennet Zerbe, one of the ballet mistresses, plays recorded music for the rehearsal, starting and stopping endlessly while Murphy and Stiefel correct and refine.

“There are technical details that we are always refining both as students and professionals throughout our careers,” Murphy said.

The music will be played by the UNCSA Nutcracker Orchestra under the direction of guest artist Charles Barker, principal conductor of American Ballet Theatre, a position he has held for more than 20 years. Brad Fields, ABT resident lighting designer and a UNCSA alumnus, designed the lighting in 2009. New set pieces were designed by UNCSA Design and Production faculty member Howard Jones, and new costumes were designed at that time by Grillo and Fay.

Jared Redick, assistant dean of the School of Dance, is the artistic director.

read more: www.queenieau.com/bridesmaid-dresses