Hannah Fonder will dance several roles for this year's production of The Nutcracker. Fonder played a mouse in the very first local production of the popular holiday classic in 1999. Seventy local dance students will help create the magical evening as part of Christmas at the Theater, which runs Wednesday through Sunday. Photo by Dawn Houseal

Details:
The Nutcracker is part of the new show Christmas at the Theater, which runs Wednesday, December 12 through Sunday, December 16 at the Fredericksburg Theater on Highway 87 South. Performances are at 7 p.m. Wed through Sat and at 2 p.m. on Sat and Sun. Tickets are $16.50 for adults and $5.50 for kids 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased on line at www.fredericksburgtheater.org or by calling or coming by the box office, 997-3588, 306 E. Austin. Box office hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets - if still available - can also be purchased at the door. For information on Ms Rhonda's School of Dance, call 997-0756.

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From a Mouse to a Queen

by Phil Houseal
Dec 12, 2007

Her stage debut was playing the "shot" mouse in the first local production of The Nutcracker.

Eight years later, Hannah Fonder has danced every role in the popular holiday classic, including the Snow Queen.

This week, 70 young ladies (and a few token men) will fill the stage as sugar plums, snowflakes, soldiers and mice as students from Ms Rhonda's School of Dance spin out the traditional story set to Tchaikovsky's classic ballet.

Fonder has been dancing for 12 of her 15 years. She doesn't recall much from that first stage experience.

"I remember I came out in my little mouse costume," she said. "It had these big heads, and we wore gray sweatshirts stuffed with trash bags to make them puffy."

She was most impressed with the older kids.

"It was really fun looking up to the girls who were playing the bigger parts," Fonder said. "It was amazing seeing what the older girls could do."

Following her turn as a mouse, Fonder danced as Clara; then Snowflake and Dewdrop. Last year she was Snow Queen, Rose and a Mint. This year she takes on several roles again. Each holds a special challenge.

"I heard one mom say they always do The Nutcracker, but when you are dancing it is a whole different experience than when you are watching," Fonder said. "You've heard the expression that there are no small parts. Well, you can get something different from every part. Dewdrop was my first pointe performance; Spanish has very challenging steps. It's always rewarding - no matter which part you get."

Fonder, who is considering pursuing ballet professionally after high school, admits she was less than enthusiastic at the start of her career.

"At first I didn't really like ballet that much because it's the basics and you are always fidgety when you are little," she said. "But when Ms Lisa came it got a lot better. I was older and she was a real joy to be around."

Ms Lisa is Lisa Bohnert, who grew up performing all the roles of Nutcracker at Lyric Opera House in Chicago. She has taught ballet here for nine years.

"Nutcracker is a light ballet, full of color, diverse costumes, and an easy story," Bohnert said. "Our dancers love it because they grow up within it. Their first year, they might be a mouse, the next perhaps an angel, on up through the flowers, and on to solo roles. It has something to offer everyone."

But has Fonder, who has two more years until she graduates from Fredericksburg High School, run out of roles to dance?

"I have done every role, but you can always learn new things," she explained. "Until it's perfect, there is always something more you can get out of it. I will never be perfect as a dancer - there is always something I can work on."

She has now become one of those older dancers sharing her experience with beginners, who already seem to know all of the dances. As the Snow Queen pirouettes onstage, dancers as young as 6 are mimicking the steps backstage, dreaming of the day they grow from a mouse into a queen.

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