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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Eleven-year-old Jordyn Chepolis, of Drums, could hear the familiar score of &#8220;The Nutcracker&#8221; and she could see little &#8220;angels&#8221; holding candles as they practiced their steps.</p><p>But as she waited her turn to rehearse one of her many roles &#8212; she&#8217;s in the snow scene, the marzipan scene and the Waltz of the Flowers, as well as serving as understudy for &#8220;young Clara&#8221; &#8212; Jordyn sat on a dance studio floor and concentrated on using pins to secure 7-year-old Sara Williams&#8217; hair into a bun at the nape of her neck.</p><p>&#8220;I do it for people who need help,&#8221; Jordyn said, admitting she has a knack for ballet buns and explaining a dancer really needs one if she has longer hair because a ponytail just won&#8217;t do. &#8220;If you turn, it could hit you in the face and be a distraction.&#8221;</p><p>Spend enough time with the young dancers preparing for Ballet Northeast&#8217;s production of &#8220;The Nutcracker&#8221; Dec. 18-20 at Wilkes University&#8217;s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts and you&#8217;ll gain all sorts of insight into their world.</p><p>It&#8217;s a world you can enjoy even if you&#8217;re not planning a career onstage. Sarah Hoffman, 18, of York, a mechanical engineering major at Wilkes University who appears as an &#8220;Arabian&#8221; dancer, can attest to that. So can T.J. Firneno, formerly of White Haven, who has been studying biology on the graduate level and researching frogs in Honduras when he&#8217;s not reprising his role as Clara&#8217;s eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer.</p><p>The ballet world gives you a chance to express all sorts of emotions, as 13-year-old Aoife Burke, of Wilkes-Barre, explained. &#8220;The Spanish dance is very fiery and sassy. The Waltz of the Flowers is delicate and graceful. &#8216;Snow&#8217; is very powerful but delicate at the same time.&#8221;</p><p>Aoife dances in those three scenes, plus she&#8217;s an understudy for the Arabian dance, which she described as &#8220;almost kind of sultry, like you&#8217;re trying to entice the audience and get them to enjoy the dance.&#8221;</p><p>Fourteen-year-old Molly Thornton, of Larksville, has been enjoying the dance since age 4, &#8220;my whole life, basically,&#8221; and she&#8217;s been hoping to land the major role of Clara almost as long. This year, it&#8217;s her turn. She&#8217;ll portray the &#8220;adult Clara,&#8221; who appears after &#8220;young Clara&#8221; helps the Nutcracker Prince defeat a Mouse Queen in battle.</p><p>Here, whacking the top mouse with a ballet shoe does the trick.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s very magical,&#8221; Molly said.</p><p>&#8220;Young Clara&#8221; is played by Laura Wooditch, of Dallas, who, at 13, is just one year younger than &#8220;adult Clara.&#8221; The younger version of the heroine is &#8220;kind of spunky,&#8221; Laura said. &#8220;She&#8217;s scared of the mice but she&#8217;s brave enough&#8221; to join the fight.</p><p>Once she&#8217;s grown up, Clara will meet such enchanting creatures as the Sugar Plum Fairy, portrayed by Danielle Gendler, and the Snow Queen, portrayed by 18-year-old Anna Weiss, of Kingston.</p><p>While the Snow Queen is a regal and traditional role, Anna said, her other role as a Russian dancer is &#8220;almost acrobatic, with somersaults and cartwheels and grande allegros, which means &#8216;large jumps&#8217;.&#8221; Noting she&#8217;s had the latter role for several years, Anna said, &#8220;My family has come to expect me to have &#8216;Russian.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Speaking of families, for each of the 50 dancers Ballet Northeast artistic director Karla Kovatch chose for the show, there is probably a proud family eager to watch the production.</p><p>&#8220;I dabbled in dance a little in high school and took it as my &#8216;gym&#8217; in college but it was just recreational dance,&#8221; mom Anna Papciak, of Mountain Top, said as she dropped off 7-year-old Lizzy for rehearsal.</p><p>For Papciak, having the chance to start her daughter early &#8212; this is Lizzy&#8217;s third year as a budding ballerina &#8212; has been &#8220;the fulfillment of a dream.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Molly Thornton, who portrays Clara in Ballet Northeast&#8217;s production of &#8216;The Nutcracker,&#8217; rehearses with, from left, Jordyn Chepolis, Aoife Burke, Natalie Ryba, Rachael Wooditch, Jenay Zelinka, Isabella Farina and Sarah Hoffman. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_dancers2-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Molly Thornton, who portrays Clara in Ballet Northeast&#8217;s production of &#8216;The Nutcracker,&#8217; rehearses with, from left, Jordyn Chepolis, Aoife Burke, Natalie Ryba, Rachael Wooditch, Jenay Zelinka, Isabella Farina and Sarah Hoffman. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ballet-001-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jordyn Chepolis, 11, of Drums puts 7-year-old Sara Williams&#8217; hair into a bun while they await their turn to rehearse their parts for Ballet Northeast&#8217;s production of &#8216;The Nutcracker.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ballet-001-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Jordyn Chepolis, 11, of Drums puts 7-year-old Sara Williams&#8217; hair into a bun while they await their turn to rehearse their parts for Ballet Northeast&#8217;s production of &#8216;The Nutcracker.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_dancers1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Getting ready Ballet Northeast&#8217;s &#8216;The Nutcracker,&#8217; which will be presented Dec. 18-29 at Wilkes University&#8217;s Darte Center are, from left, Isabella Farina, Jenay Zelinka, Sarah Hoffman, Jordyn Cheplis and Allie McGeehan. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_dancers1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Getting ready Ballet Northeast&#8217;s &#8216;The Nutcracker,&#8217; which will be presented Dec. 18-29 at Wilkes University&#8217;s Darte Center are, from left, Isabella Farina, Jenay Zelinka, Sarah Hoffman, Jordyn Cheplis and Allie McGeehan. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;The Nutcracker&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Presented by Ballet Northeast</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, corner of West South and South River streets, Wilkes-Barre</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 and 2 p.m. Dec. 20</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $22, $15, group rates available</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-821-8525</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Ballet Northeast to present ‘The Nutcracker’ Dec. 18-20 at Wilkes University’s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center