A day in the life of an
‘Urban’ dancer

Erin Washington

I suppose I am privileged to have been exposed to so many styles of dance growing up. After doing gymnastics for three years, I started ballet and jazz at age ten, and soon acquired tap. I had been watching the girls my age having fun in that tap class, and asked my parents if I could do it too. That June, my class and I were dressed as frogs in the annual concert, tapping to “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” in a jazzy style. By high school I was also taking modern and hip hop classes — I wanted to learn it all.

Most dancers these days are specialists. In order to succeed as professionals, they concentrate their training in one form — ballet, tap, hip hop or otherwise — and much of the time they perform in different shows. But the BalletRox production of Tony Williams’ “Urban Nutcracker” combines it all into one show, something that any dancer or dance enthusiast would enjoy, especially a versatile one like me.

This is the show’s sixth year, which fuses the classic ballet story with swing, tap, hip-hop and much more. This year I am tapping in the prologue (a hyped up introduction to the show also featuring break-dancing, stepping, doo-wop singing and hip-hop) and dancing a swing number in the “Party Scene.”

Rehearsals for the “Urban Nutcracker” were quick and intense. We were all thankful to have space at the new Tony Williams Dance Center, with three studios available, instead of various rehearsals across the city as in previous years. Most rehearsals were on Sundays, and a few Saturdays until the week before the show. Every year Williams tries to make the show better than the last, so we were struggling trying to pull it all together up until the last minute.

I share a dressing room mostly with ballet students from The Boston Conservatory, who provide the ballet core of the show, performing in the corps de ballet and some of the solos. There are also several guest principal ballet dancers from Rhode Island and New York, who add to the professionalism of the show. And then there is the not-entirely-classical choreography and the children that round it all out and make it fun.

Having watched it for three years before I was a part of the show, I know that this production is much more exciting and diverse than most — and once you’ve seen it, scarcely any traditional “Nutcracker” will compare. Despite some stressful rehearsals, it has succeeded in its goal: even with 11 shows, almost twice that of last year, audiences are screaming and clapping with delight. All in all, it’s a fun show to watch and to take part in. I enjoy my time with all the different kinds of dancers, and I enjoy watching what parts of the show I can. This show truly has something for everybody — every age, every color and every style of dance.

The “Urban Nutcracker” is playing at John Hancock Hall through Sunday, December 17. For more information visit www.balletrox.org.

Top to bottom: The prologue, swing dancing in the party scene, and Khalid Hill with tappers in the second act. (Jeffrey Mayes photos)