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&ldquo;My job as the director of the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre is to get The Nutcracker done somehow, so, it will,&rdquo; Gina Malsky said, exuding a calm determination in the preview for a still-in-the-works documentary by a new local creative agency and video production company called umbrella bloc.
				Visit umbrella bloc&rsquo;s Facebook page, or Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre&rsquo;s Facebook page, and you can watch the entire trailer &mdash; with images of young dancers stretching and twirling to the strains of Tchaikovsky&rsquo;s &ldquo;Nutcracker Suite&rdquo; interspersed with images of &ldquo;Miss Gina&rdquo; wiping the ballet barre with disinfectant and running a vacuum over the studio floor.
				&ldquo;Miss Gina&rsquo;s giving a sense of normalcy to the girls, as much as she can, away from all the craziness out there,&rdquo; said Steve Husted, one of three co-owners of umbrella bloc who have been recording the young dancers as they prepare their annual production of &ldquo;The Story of the Nutcracker.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I thought it would be awkward at first (to have people with cameras watching rehearsals),&rdquo; dancer Gabriella Randazzo of Dallas, who dances the role of the Snow Queen, told a reporter. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;re just part of the atmosphere.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad we get to have something, even if it&rsquo;s not in person,&rdquo; dancer Kaitlyn Smith of Mountain Top said, alluding to the fact that &ldquo;The Story of the Nutcracker&rdquo; will not be like performances of the past.
				Those shows usually had parents, grandparents, siblings and friends crowded into a theater to watch as the Sugar Plum Fairy, portrayed this year by Kaitlyn, presided over all sorts of delights in a land of sweets.
				This year, the plan is for the girls to dance the entire show while umbrella bloc records it, and the audience will be able to watch it online, perhaps as soon as the week between Christmas and New Year&rsquo;s Day.
				But the documentary will involve more than the performance.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a multi-faceted narrative showing the challenges of COVID, and how Miss Gina concentrates on keeping her students mentally and physically healthy,&rdquo; Husted said.
				&ldquo;We always say we&rsquo;re trying to be &lsquo;COVID creative&rsquo;,&rdquo; said Malsky, who taught dance steps via Zoom in the spring, and staged an outdoor production of &ldquo;The Little Mermaid&rdquo; in the summer, followed by an outdoor Halloween show just a few weeks ago. She also made sure the youngest dancers had the seasonal fun of finding pumpkins that seemed to have magically sprouted at Kirby Park.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever been involved with a performance where I&rsquo;ve been able to watch it with no responsibilities,&rdquo; said Malsky, who&rsquo;s excited about the way the project is coming together. &ldquo;But this time the filming will be done and I&rsquo;ll be able to relax and &lsquo;watch a movie.&rsquo; The girls have never been able to sit down and watch each other dance in a whole show, either, before now.&rdquo;
				The creative team at umbrella bloc consists of co-owners Steve Husted, Stephen Reuther and Connor Allen, aided by Stefan Fulton, Matt Giambra and Scott Jacoby.
				They&rsquo;re not sure how far the documentary will go, Husted said. It&rsquo;s possible it may air on PBS, or it may be entered into independent film festivals.
				For now, the plan is to record the girls as they rehearse and perform shortly after Thanksgiving.
				On a recent Thursday evening Husted and Allen showed the preview to Miss Gina and some of her older dancers &mdash; and the excitement in the studio was almost palpable. COVID wasn&rsquo;t going to prevent the young dancers from having their Nutcracker experience after all.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s when we&rsquo;re pushed up against the wall that the best ideas come,&rdquo; Malsky said.

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Local filmmakers chronicle DTWB’s ‘The Story of the Nutcracker’