A Tchaikovsky tradition

Young Chang

When Willa Bouwens-Killeen thinks of Christmas, she hears music. But

not the tune to “White Christmas” or “Oh Tannenbaum.”

She hears the music of dancing snowflakes, a sugar plum fairy,

red-uniformed soldiers, little baby angels and a battling mouse king.

She hears it backstage as she waits to step out for her holiday dance.

The music of Tchaikovsky has carried Bouwens-Killeen onto the stage for

more than 10 years.

By day, she is a Costa Mesa city planner, a job she’s held for 19

years. By night, she’s a veteran of the Festival Ballet Theater’s “The

Nutcracker.”

The company, which has put on the show for 12 years, will bring the

ballet to Orange Coast College this weekend for its seventh consecutive

year.

The popular ballet also will hit the stage at the Irvine Barclay

Theatre with about 25 locals dancing in Ballet Pacifica’s version

Thursday through Dec. 24.

At OCC, Bouwens-Killeen will take the stage as Mrs. Stahlbaum, the

mother of Clara in this story of a girl and her magical nutcracker.

“It just doesn’t seem like November and December without rehearsals

and performances,” she said.

Salwa Rizkalla is the director of Festival Ballet and its 150-member

cast.

Children dressed as flying angels mulled about backstage for rehearsal

this week. Tutus sparkled with silver glitter and ballet shoes poked out

from beneath 1800s-esque party dresses.

“It’s like a great festival every year we do it,” Rizkalla said.

The cast includes members of the ballet school in Fountain Valley and

local residents. Several dancers are veterans of the performance,

returning to create tradition for their audiences and themselves.

Bouwens-Killeen, 43, dances time and again with the show because

Tchaikovsky never fails her.

“You get to lose yourself to the music,” she said. “I think it’s

beautiful, but it’s also a great introductory ballet for kids.”

She said her son comes to watch her most of the time but does not

perform.

Quenby Hersh, 12, has been with the show for seven years. The Newport

Beach girl said she never gets bored with it because she doesn’t always

play the same part.

Christina Fulcher, 14, also of Newport Beach, has worked her way up

from the role of an angel to dancing as an attendant to the Sugar Plum

Fairy and as a partygoer. It has been eight years since she began

performing with Festival Ballet.

“It’s just like a tradition for me and I like to dance,” Christina

said. “I don’t think I could quit [being in the show.] I’d have to help

or something because it’s just a part of me during the holiday season.”

For Bouwens-Killeen, it’s a matter of honoring tradition. Her winter

months are spent at Costa Mesa City Hall in the afternoons and at the

Festival Ballet studio in the evenings.

She has gotten accustomed to the routine and so has her personal

audience, who, by association, have adopted “The Nutcracker” holiday

tradition, going to the show every year.

Rizkalla appreciates the city planner’s dedication and volunteer

spirit toward the show.

“She’s always as excited as the first time we did ‘Nutcracker,’ ” the

director said. “She makes a really good atmosphere around her and she has

a great attitude. It makes her very important to ‘The Nutcracker.’ ”

FYI

* What: Festival Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”

* When: 2 and 7 p.m. today; 2 p.m. Sunday

* Where: Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview

Road, Costa Mesa

* Cost: $15-$19

* Call: (714) 432-5880

* What: Ballet Pacifica’s “The Nutcracker”

* When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Dec. 23, excluding Dec. 18; 2:30

p.m. Dec. 16 to 24, excluding Dec. 18

* Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine.

* Cost: $17-$21

* Call: (714) 740-2000