Wise Cracks

So how does a family wind up watching their daughters dance an unofficial record of seven consecutive years of “Nutcracker” performances?

Spokane’s Swobodas did it by raising girls with talent, stamina and musicality – and adding a magical secret ingredient: the gene for short stature.

Elder daughter Leyna Swoboda, 5 feet 2 inches tall, danced six years in the Alberta Ballet-Spokane Symphony production of “The Nutcracker,” three of them in the children’s lead role of Clara.

Younger daughter Nora Swoboda, 4 feet 11 inches tall, will dance the role of Fritz, the second children’s lead, this year. It will be her third “Nutcracker” performance.

And even their mother Debbie Swoboda, 5 feet 1 1/2 inches tall , danced as a rat one year herself, ages ago in the early days of Alberta Ballet “Nutcrackers” in Spokane. She was a college student studying with former Spokane teacher Tessa Williams then.

“None of us are tall, and you’ve got to be under a certain height,” says Debbie Swoboda as she and her daughters light up with matching blond-and-blue-eyed grins. “I think that certainly helps.

“But I think they’re both very talented and dedicated dancers and have a real love for it, and I suppose that comes through in the auditions.”

This weekend the Spokane Symphony will again join with Alberta Ballet and Ballet British Columbia to present four performances of “The Nutcracker,” Friday through Sunday at the INB Performing Arts Center.

The production of the Peter Tchaikovsky classic will feature traditional Russian-style choreography by Mikko Nissinen, 37 dancers from the professional companies and 50 young Spokane dancers. The role of Clara will be danced by Kelsey Piva. Guest conductor Peter Dala will direct the symphony.

The story begins, of course, on Christmas Eve with a magical nutcracker that transports little Clara into a land of mysterious dancing snowflakes and a Sugar Plum fairy.

As usual, Debbie Swoboda will be backstage, helping dancers into their costumes and pointing directions to the bathroom.

She is, say rehearsal mistresses Peggy Goodner Tan and Dodie Askegard, the model ballet mom. She’s quick to sew costumes and volunteer to help, but draws the line at hovering or lobbying for bigger parts for her daughters.

“I would have loved to have had more experience dancing,” Debbie Swoboda says. “But you can’t live your kids’ life. … It’s something that I loved so it’s fun for me to watch my kids experience it.”

Best of all, Tan says, Debbie Swoboda makes sure to expose her daughters to classical music and television, video and DVDs of professional ballet productions. The most recent, says Nora: a video of America Ballet Theatre’s performance of “Swan Lake.”

“It’s very important (for young dancers) to see a lot of good ballet,” says Tan. “It develops taste and style.”

Both Debbie Swoboda and her husband, Jim, sing in the Spokane Symphony Chorale, which has meant both girls have grown up surrounded by classical music.

The Swoboda run began seven years ago when Leyna, now a junior at Lewis and Clark High School, danced the role of an angel. She performed as a mouse the next year, as Clara for three years, and returned last year to dance the part of a soldier.

“It was fun doing it,” Leyna says. “After six years I wasn’t really nervous anymore.”

Leyna lapped up the chance to work with the professional dancers, and she hasn’t forgotten the occasional glitches – like the performance when the snow sets dropped halfway only to dangle in mid-air, and the dress rehearsal when the cast was nearly overcome during the battle scene.

“They overdid the dry ice and no one could breathe,” Leyna says. “They had to stop the music because no one could see anything. Everyone was running into each other.”

This year Leyna’s dancing in Theatre Ballet’s “Ballet and Bubbly” event on New Year’s Eve, and decided not to complicate her holiday season with a second production.

Three years ago, Nora danced as an angel, and last year she moved up to party girl. Her ultimate dream, like most young dancers: the role of Clara.

This year Nora’s big challenge is learning to dance as a boy. It’s a tough role, she says, because she must constantly remember to replace the graceful, elegant arm movements she’s practiced for so many years with straighter, stronger and more commanding moves.

“I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be easy,’ ” says Nora, a sixth-grader at Wilson School. “But, as time progressed, I was like, ‘No, this isn’t easy,’ because it’s hard being a boy.”

Tan, who has rehearsed both girls in the “Nutcracker” during the last seven years, says: “I think both of the Swobodas are very talented dancers in different ways.”

Leyna is quick and sharp, while Nora is very flexible, lyrical and a fine actor, Tan says.

Nora’s now 12, and if she dances as long as her sister, that would mean another four years in the production, her mother estimates. That would make for a whopping 11 years of Swoboda family Nutcrackers.

Even Debbie Swoboda, who especially adores watching the quiet beauty of the show’s snow scene, says: “That’s a lot of Nutcrackers.”