Reunited (and it feels so good) Veteran dancers return for Robinson Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’

Though finals at New York University start next week, at least two students won’t spend their Thanksgiving break cramming.

Brewer natives Ian Robinson and Rebecca Breau, both of whom are studying dance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, will instead reprise their roles as Cavalier and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Robinson Ballet Company’s performance of “The Nutcracker.”

“I can’t wait,” Breau said by phone from New York last Friday, just hours before she would perform in NYU’s faculty show. “It’s sort of a sense of family and community.”

This year, the production will feature students from River City Dance Center in Bangor and Ellsworth, Thomas School of Dance in Bangor, Belfast Dance Studio, Studio 1 in Millinocket, Broadway Bound in Lincoln and the University of Maine. Thirty members of the Bangor Area Children’s Choir also will be a part of the show.

Over the past 19 years, the collaboration between Robinson Ballet and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra has become a tradition for families in Eastern Maine. And this year’s performance will be a reunion of sorts for four young dancers who got their start at Robinson Ballet.

“The fact that we can be away and all come back and perform is special because we all grew up together,” Breau said.

For Bangor native Stevie Dunham, “The Nutcracker” will be a chance to reconnect with her old friend Caleb McGary of Brewer, with whom she danced the Grand Pas de Deux two years ago.

“It’s been really nice for us to come back and dance together again,” Dunham said Monday. “He’s one of my best friends. We’re the only two that took a break.”

They skipped “The Nutcracker” last year, but Dunham and McGary will return this weekend as Snow Queen and Snow Prince. In addition, Dunham has taken on another role: choreographer.

Dunham, who attends the University of Maine, plans to transfer to a school where she can focus on choreography. She got a taste of the future this fall as she set the Harlequin Doll, Spanish and Mother Ginger dances. Though she found it challenging, she had a blast – she even added some hip-hop steps, including the moonwalk, to the Harlequin Doll dance. But the most fun came when she worked with her sister Jesse and her friends.

“The girls know me, they know my style, so we’re just able to go into the studio and have fun,” Dunham said.

Breau and Robinson haven’t had much time to rehearse. Their schedules are rigorous – Pilates twice a week, ballet and technical classes every day, academic courses in the afternoon, then back to the studio to study music, composition and choreography.

In October, Robinson’s parents, Maureen and Keith Robinson (who along with McGary’s mom, Kelly Holyoke, are instructors at River City Dance Studio and co-artistic directors of Robinson Ballet) came to NYU for parents’ weekend, and they were able to squeeze in a quick rehearsal. But a lot of this weekend’s performance will come from memory – for all of the dancers, “The Nutcracker” has been running through their veins since they were very young.

Breau and Dunham were both 11 when they danced in their first “Nutcracker.” Robinson made his debut at the tender age of 5. And McGary has been dancing with Robinson Ballet since he was 3.

Because families make “The Nutcracker” an annual tradition, people in the community are able to watch the dancers grow and thrive both on- and offstage. Dunham has become friends with several members of the BSO and the tech crew. Audience members remember Robinson from the tennis court, or McGary from the basketball court.

“You see quite a few regulars that come back every year,” said McGary, who is in his first year at Eastern Maine Community College.

The “Nutcracker” is a part of Christmas for many local residents. But for four dancers who are starting to carve out a future for themselves, the tradition is a sweet link to their childhood, their hometown, their old friends.

“Just coming back to this, I feel like I’m coming home and kind of getting back into the swing of things,” Robinson said by phone from New York last week. “I’m just excited. It’s a community thing.”