Holiday dreams achieved

After years of attending shows and watching Alabama Ballet perform Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” two Mountain Brook girls will get to be the center of this year’s show.

Maggie Simmons and Julia Naftel, both 9 years old, will perform in the role of Marie — the leading female role — in this year’s production. For both girls, who have been dancing since ages 3 and 2, respectively, “The Nutcracker” was a holiday tradition and the role of Marie was a dream they hoped to achieve.

“When I was 4 or 5, I used to get nutcrackers [as presents], and I would pretend I was Marie,” said Julia, a fourth grader at Cherokee Bend Elementary. “I’d faint on the bed and stuff, and I downloaded all of the music to dance to and pretended to be in The Nutcracker.”

Even when her daughter was in preschool, Richelle Simmons said she had her eye on performing in The Nutcracker.

“I remember the first time I watched, I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to be that girl who looks like she fainted in the chair,’” said Maggie, who is a fourth grader at Mountain Brook Elementary.

That was one of the reasons they moved to classes at Alabama Ballet, Simmons said, when Maggie was in first grade. Julia started taking classes at Alabama Ballet at the same time, and the two girls formed a fast friendship, according to their moms.

Auditions for this year’s production started Sept. 24, said Grace Anli, the girls’ instructor. Rehearsals will continue every day until show time, Anli said, totaling to about 11 hours per week.

It can be difficult, Anli admitted, as the girls must remember their roles as Marie in addition to their roles as Party Girl and Polichinelles, the children who appear from under Mother Ginger’s skirt. Each move in the Balanchine production is carefully choreographed, even if it looks chaotic from the audience. Anli works with her dancers to make sure they swap out roles enough to remember all of their parts, but ultimately it falls on the dancers.

“It’s just a responsibility,” Anli said. “You have to be very diligent with yourself.”

As Maggie and Julia rehearse, they both said sometimes it gets confusing, but distinguishing their various parts in the production becomes easier with more practice.

“I think the most challenging part is learning all the stuff because it’s kind of overwhelming,” Maggie said. “[But I’ve learned] that if you practice a lot, and you get used to it, then it starts to get easier.”

“I also deal with that,” Julia added. “It can be a little overwhelming, and it’s hard, but then the more you practice, the easier it gets.”

And all of the hard work pays off once they get on stage, Julia and Maggie said. While their friends ask about how they ward off nerves as they perform, the two girls agreed that when they step on stage, any scared feelings clear away.

“Some of my friends say, ‘How do you not get scared?’ or ‘How are you not scared that you’re going to trip or fall?’ and you don’t know what to say because it just happens and it feels magical, and you forget about everything else that’s going on,” Maggie said. 

Because their daughters spend so much time at Alabama Ballet — “It’s like a second home,” Simmons said — both Simmons and Jessica Naftel said they are glad their daughters have each other.

“It’s nice to be a child because they have to be so serious during dance rehearsals,” Naftel said, adding that the girls must be professional so that Anli can properly instruct them. “When you do have a break, it’s nice to have a friend that you can just kind of kid around with for a few minutes, and then get back to it.”

While the girls attend different elementary schools, they typically go out to dinners together with their families on Wednesdays, between rehearsals. They will also hang out on the playground during Julia’s brother’s football games and occasionally take that time to practice.

“Yesterday, me and Maggie, we were at her playground, and we made the swings a little higher and we would practice fainting on them because we thought it was funny,” Julia said.

Even with the hours of hard work required for the performance, Anli said the role of Marie is something each girl will remember for the rest of her life. She even remembers her favorite part of her first performance as Marie, when she opened her eyes after “fainting” and saw the snow falling on stage.

“For me, when I was their age, it was just so magical,” Anli said. “Like, ‘Finally. I’m finally the girl. Everyone is watching me.’ That experience, it makes it worth all of those weeks of dedication.”

The experience is also magical for their family, Simmons said, as they will see Maggie perform in a show that has become a holiday tradition.

“We’ve got so much family and cousins that come in town, that it’s nice to have them come and see The Nutcracker,” said Naftel.

“It just makes Christmas all the more merrier,” Simmons added.

Alabama Ballet will perform The Nutcracker on Dec. 8-10 and Dec. 15-17, with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. shows on Saturday and 2:30 p.m. shows on Sundays. Julia will play the role of Marie during the Saturday, Dec. 9 and Sunday, Dec. 10 shows at 2:30 p.m., and Maggie will be Marie during the Saturday, Dec. 16 show at 7:30 p.m. in addition to the Alabama Ballet touring cast in Anniston on Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 3. 

For more information, or to order tickets, go to alabamaballet.org.