An elementary ballet lesson

Jeff Benson

Third-graders got their first real-world lessons in ballet,

choreography and set design, while watching a festive production of

“The Nutcracker” Friday at the Irvine Barclay Theater.

Ballet Pacifica staged an abridged, one-hour matinee Friday solely

for third-grade classes from Newport-Mesa, leaving the curtain open

so the students could see scene changes.

Conservatory founder and director Gillian Finley lectured on

ballet’s French origins and demonstrated choreographic steps with

Ballet Pacifica dancers.

In any other circumstances, a tombe, pas de bourree, glissade or

grand jete would sound like desserts at a fancy French cafe, but

they’re not. Finley explained these fundamental ballet maneuvers in

terms the students could understand -- in sentence construction.

“You can make a sentence out of these steps,” she said, as a

dancer performed glides and leaps in sequence.

“When we hook them together like that, it makes it very beautiful,

and all of these sentences hook together to make a story like ‘The

Nutcracker.’”

“The Nutcracker” begins its marathon run tonight at The Barclay,

with performances at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. through Wednesday. The show

will wrap up with a 2:30 p.m. Christmas Eve performance.

Students watched intently as the Nutcracker transformed into a

prince and led another main character, Clara Stahlbaum, from the Land

of Snow to the Land of Sweets and danced with the Sugar Plum Fairy.

“It was good,” said Max Thornell, 9, of Newport Heights Elementary

School. “I liked the Nutcracker guy and how they lift up the girls

too.”

Julia Frei, 8, shared Max’s sentiment.

“I thought it was great because everybody was doing all those

dances and stuff,” Julia said. “And the music was good.”

Since the normal production is more than twice as long as the

one-hour matinee the students watched, a narrator filled them in on

what they were missing between scenes.This is the second year the

Newport Beach Arts Commission has held the event for Newport Beach

students at the Barclay Theater, but earlier this year, Newport-Mesa

district Trustee Tom Egan suggested they invite Costa Mesa students

to participate.

“This is consistent with [the district’s] Strategic Plan, to put

more emphasis on the arts,” Egan said. “We jumped on it because it

fits. They’ve been doing it a number of years, and they’ve figured

out what they can do to educate the kids.”

* JEFF BENSON covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.

FYI

WHAT: Ballet Pacifica’s 38th annual performance of “The

Nutcracker”

WHEN: 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 23 and at 2:30 p.m.

Dec. 24

COST: $25 to $35 for adults and $20 to $30 for children and

seniors

INFO: (949) 851-9930