NYCB Vol. 13 No. 10 - Nutcracker

[10/52] Counting down 52 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear from KJ Takahashi, a soloist who has been in the company since 2019:

"This story is from my first season in Nutcracker as an apprentice and it was my debut performance in the Candy Cane role. I felt ready, rehearsed & confident that this will go well. The SAB students run on stage, the music begins and I’m bouncing around in the wings with the hoop, pumping myself up to get out there. I look up to see Emma Von Enck across the stage [in the wings] with a panicked look and gesturing to me to get on stage. I realized that I should be on stage right now doing the balancé manege so I run out and do the biggest split jump I could on center & catch up with the choreography. I’m sure there’s a video out there somewhere that would be funny to find. Thankfully everything else went well, but it’s always a memory that pops up around this time.”