NYCB Vol. 13 No. 30 & 31 - Nutcracker

Photo by Martha Swope

[30/50] Counting down 50 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear from Allegra Kent, who was danced in the company from 1953-1981:

Allegra Kent joined NYCB two years before Balanchine choreographed his Nutcracker. She was 17 when she danced in the premiere season. “I was only a mouse and a shepherdess. I longed to be Dewdrop and do some jumps. And I knew it would happen. I hoped soon.” [Quoted from ‘Once a Dancer…’]

“When they were very young, I took my granddaughters to see New York City Ballet’s signature production of The Nutcracker, choreographed by George Balanchine. The girls had been told the story of how I had been a ballerina and that I had even danced in the very same Nutcracker they were about to enjoy. I could see their delight as they were treated to the magic of the beautiful sets, costumes, and music but also imagining their grandmother in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. A feeling of nostalgia swept over me as I realized that, although the world changes, The Nutcracker endures.” [Quoted from ‘Grand Jeté’]

Photos by Fred Fehl

In 2021, Allegra published a picture book titled “Grand Jeté and Me” which follows a grandmother, nicknamed ‘Grand Jeté’ and based on Kent, who brings her young granddaughter to see NYCB’s Nutcracker, an experience culled from Kent’s own life. ‘My mother took my children, and I just followed the tradition of taking my granddaughters,’ says Kent. ‘And of course they knew I had danced most of the roles.’ The emotional arc of the story occurs when the granddaughter comes to realize that her grandmother was once a prima ballerina who danced the role of the Sugarplum Fairy. ‘I was just like her, my darling,’ says the wonderfully elegant Grand Jeté, ‘and someday you might be, too.’ [Quoted from Pointe Magazine]

Allegra and Edward Villella. Photo by Martha Swope.

“This book is my way of celebrating the joy I felt while dancing The Nutcracker and so many other ballets for thirty years with New York City Ballet and to thank Mr. B, as we called him, for his enormous gift to the generations of children— and their parents and grandparents-who discover and rediscover this ballet.” [Quoted from ‘Grand Jeté’ ]In 2021, when I met Allegra for the first time, she gifted me a copy of this book and inscribed it to me!

Photos by Rosalie O'Connor