Regional Nutcracker honors 40 years with classes for dancers from Middle Georgia, beyond

When Nutcracker of Middle Georgia’s leadership started thinking about what to do to celebrate their 40th anniversary this year — that’s right, it’s been 40 years since Jean Weaver and a handful of others first brought what has become a holiday tradition to stage in Macon — they thought about how to give back to the community they say has been so faithful and supportive through the years.

A committee decided it would be best to stick with what they know and offer a free weekend ballet intensive with classes at the Jean Evans Weaver Center for Dance.

But they had no idea what was to come.

“Our goal was to get people interested in coming and hold it in the two studios of the non-profit Weaver Center,” said Rachel Sheppard, Nutcracker board president. “We decided to bring in two nationally known instructors and let dancers from eight to adult sign up for individual classes. That was the plan.”

NMG sent out notices about the intensive to area dance academies, put it on social media and generally got the word out saying signup would begin online on Aug. 11 at 6 p.m.

That’s Monday of last week.

The response was immediate, overwhelming and literally beyond the bounds of what organizers had thought possible.

“We had such interest that we knew right away we had to bring in an additional guest teacher and arrange with the Piedmont Grand Opera House to expand classes to their stage,” Sheppard said.

As it turned out, the “bounds” for students signing up went beyond Macon, Warner Robins, Bonaire, Kathleen, Byron and Fort Valley, as might be expected, to Roberta, Hawkinsville, Jeffersonville, Poulan, Sumner, Statesboro, Columbus and all the way down to Tifton.

Plus, to Phenix City, Alabama. 

“We closed registration with over 70 dancers coming,” Sheppard said. “We still have people calling to get attend and have a waiting list in case someone drops out.”

NMG’s artistic director, Alice Sheridan, said the response is amazing. 

“What’s particularly exciting is how this has widened our reach with dancers coming not only from Middle Georgia but from all over,” she said. “We feel this is really important as part of our ongoing mission and our community service efforts, which we see as a big part of who we are. Rachel has done a wonderful job spearheading the event.”

Sheppard passes the credit on to what she calls the “very active” NMG board of 24 working members and all who serve on committees and volunteer in other ways.

“The intensive is sponsored by a group called ‘4 for 40 Anniversary Donors,’” she said. “That’s led by Paul Cable and Kent Baldschun. They’ve done a fantastic job raising money to allow us to offer the intensive for free and give back to the community that’s loved and supported Nutcracker for the past 40 years.”

Sheppard has served on the board for almost five years and has been president since January. And there’s this: she knows the value and draw of NMG beyond Middle Georgia’s borders since she lives in Columbus.

How did someone from Columbus wind up board president?

Like so many others, it’s through her daughter.

“Our daughter, Lucy, began dance at 4, took a couple of years off, then was back at it at 7.”

It’s Rachel and Todd Sheppard’s daughter Lucy, who was added as the third guest teacher for the intensive, and it’s not because of the family connection but because of Lucy’s own bona fides.

“I think the first time she stepped on stage to dance would have been in 2010 and she loved everything about it. She loved the classes, rehearsals, being backstage, everything. As a student, she didn’t shy away in a corner but threw herself into it even wanting the correction her teachers gave. I think at an early age she knew that was the only way.”

But how did she connect to Macon and NMG?

“She attended a summer intensive in Pennsylvania and met girls from Macon who were part of the Nutcracker,” Sheppard said. “Halfway through her 9th-grade year, we brought her to Macon just to take one class with Alice Sherridan. She got in the car three hours later and was ecstatic. ‘Mom,’ she said, ‘you are not going to believe how good these girls are. I have to go again.’ So, we brought her back the next week and she had the same response. By the end of her freshman year, we were coming twice a week every week.”

After another summer at the Pennsylvania intensive – by then she and the Macon girls were great friends – they convinced her to try out for the Nutcracker. She did and landed the 2018 lead role of Clara.

“Getting that role was an offer she couldn’t refuse, even though we had never actually seen the Nutcracker here,” Sheppard said. “When she got the role, Alice gave her a DVD to watch in the car on the way home to Columbus. She literally started screaming, ‘Look at the sets, look at what they’re doing.’ I had to pull over to watch. People thought we were crazy, driving all that way so often. Leaving school at 3:15, doing homework in the car, eating in the car, practicing, getting back in the car and home late and doing it again several times a week. But this was the answer to what my daughter needed in high school and this is where her deep friendships grew. She considers Macon home now. Macon and the Nutcracker helped make her dreams come true.”

Sheppard said what NMG meant to her daughter and seeing for herself the passion, commitment to quality and commitment to bringing out the best in the girls, boys and adults involved grew her passion for it and got her involved.

It also gave her a unique, fresh-eyed perspective.

“I’ve never been on any board or done anything like this before,” she said. “Much less be president.”

After high school, Lucy continued her training at Indiana University’s prestigious dance department, performing and teaching while there. She spent three years at MotionArts Dance Academy and, in July, joined the Chattanooga Ballet and continues teaching. Along the way, she’s garnered awards and kudos.

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As for the intensive itself, there are 20 classes this weekend covering ballet, pre-pointe, pointe, conditioning, contemporary and ballet variations plus a Q&A session with guest teachers and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Grand.

Other guest teachers are:

• Lauren Fadeley Veyette, who trained at the Orlando Ballet School and the School of Performing Arts in Florida before moving to New York to study full-time at the School of American Ballet. Her stature as a dancer is clear in that she began her professional career at 16 with the New York City Ballet. Her illustrious, multi-faceted career includes performing in the Academy Award-winning film Black Swan.
• Brooke Moore, who has trained and performed with the Laurel Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School and many other companies, including being soloist and principal dancer with the Philadelphia Ballet.

“We are elated to have guest teachers of Lauren and Brooke’s stature,” Sheppard said. “It’s going to be an amazing three days for all who attend and we are beside ourselves that we get to get to do it for them wherever they’re from.”

When tempted to become complacent or downplay the value of NMG, consider the families that have made the annual holiday production a vital part of their traditions, how many find new wonder in it each year, how many young people’s dreams — and adult’s — come true through it each year and consider this: how many have come through NMG and it been a launching pad to their professional dance careers. Here’s a list of those who have been part of the Nutcracker and are currently working professionally:

• Roxy Shackelford, St. Louis Ballet
• Murray McCormack, Ballet Arkansas
• Lucy Sheppard, Chattanooga Ballet
• Lilla Simmons, Georgia Ballet Marietta
• Dagny Ingle, Ballet Quad Cities
• Ellen Smith, Nevada Ballet Theatre
• Madison Kemp, Nevada Ballet Theatre
• Anna Slade, St. Louis Ballet
• Max Richters, Ballet Zürich

Inspired? Auditions for people eight and above for the coming 2025 Nutcracker production are Sept. 13 and 22. There are spots for dancing and non-dancing participants and adults. For more, visit midganutcracker.com.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Find him on Instagram at michael_w_pannell.