Rachel Brown
rachelbrown@daltoncitizen.com
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Dalton High School wasn’t the only local venue Dalton Arts Project officials considered before opting to move the “Nutcracker” performances to Catoosa County.
Artistic director Berrien Long said organizers in past years have held the ballet at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center and the Wink Theatre, but as the production has become more complex it has outgrown those facilities. Long confirmed the move to the Colonnade in Ringgold last week and said it is a way to accommodate growing interest while expanding performances from one weekend to two.
While the trade center on its website boasts an ability to seat up to 4,000 — well over the 3,500 the “Nutcracker” drew last year over seven performances — Long said it lacks the traditional theater components needed to pull off a complex show.
“Our production has lavish sets that you have from pulley systems,” she said.
Any venue would need “fly space” so that the Christmas tree has room to grow, the snow has a spacious sky from which to fall and all the pulleys and rigs that are used with props can be properly situated, Long said. The Wink, while beautiful and perfect for some performances, has no fly space, she said; and the trade center, while large, is “just an open area with no fly space or wing space.”
“The Colonnade is a theater that has all the rigging and all the fly space and the dressing rooms that we need for all the casts we have,” she said.
The website for the Colonnade lists a 536-seat capacity while the theater at Dalton High seats 505. This will be Long’s 18th production of the “Nutcracker” and performances will be Dec. 3 and 4 and Dec. 10 and 11. About 350 children and adults participate in the production each year.
Long said she was concerned about keeping the production at the high school this year because the first weekend in December is typically reserved for the school’s choral performance, and students are normally taking final exams the week after the “Nutcracker.”
“No one from the Dalton Arts Project contacted DHS to see if it was possible for them to have the theater for a second week,” Principal Debbie Freeman said. “Certainly, we would have done our best to accommodate the request. I have great respect for Berrien and the work she does in our community and feel confident that the decision to move ‘The Nutcracker’ would not have been made in haste.”
Damaris Robles-Santiago, president of the Dalton Arts Project Board of Directors, said board members considered the move for several months before making a decision. They knew soon after last year’s production, however, that they would want to add another performance to this year’s schedule to accommodate growing interest.
Spreading out the performance over two weekends will mean the dancers are more refreshed, too, she added, and feedback from the families involved in the production has been “very positive.”
“It is very taxing on our dancers to do seven shows back to back, physically, emotionally and mentally,” Robles-Santiago said.
She added several families have said they wish Dalton had a facility similar to the Colonnade where several community theater productions are held each year. The one year the organization held its “Nutcracker” performances at the Wink, dancers waiting to come on stage had nowhere else to wait but the street alley, she said.
Long said cost was not an issue in the decision to move from the high school, and Robles-Santiago said the move to the Colonnade is expected to be “a wash” financially. Robles-Santiago declined to disclose the fee paid to use Dalton High, and Freeman said she didn’t immediately have the information. A Board of Education policy the school system provided shows minimum fees are $250 for the auditorium and $100 for a classroom during after-school hours for the first three hours and that a $25 fee can be assessed for each hour after that time. Freeman said the Dalton Arts Project used the theater and three classrooms for about a week last year as their props and gear were stored at the school. The usage fees cover utilities and other maintenance costs.
