December 26, 2024
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‘So excited’: Long days, big dreams go into Glen Ellyn ballerina’s ‘Nutcracker’ debut with Salt Creek Ballet

By Marni Pyke - Daily Herald Media Group
Glen Ellyn's Sia Erter is dancing as Princess Clara in Salt Creek Ballet's "The Nutcracker" production.

Glen Ellyn's Sia Erter is dancing as Princess Clara in Salt Creek Ballet's "The Nutcracker" production. (Photo provided by Jenn Martin Portraits. )

When she was 8, Sia Erter played a guest at the magnificent party Clara’s parents throw in Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”

This week, the Glen Ellyn dancer will be at the center of the action as Princess Clara in several Salt Creek Ballet productions.

“I absolutely love ‘The Nutcracker,’” Erter said. “I’ve been doing it so long and it brings me back to when I was little — there’s so many memories.”

By now, Erter, 17, is used to juggling ballet and classes at Glenbard West High School, which is fortunate given her packed schedule.

“I have class every single day after school, usually for two hours with pointe and then afterward two hours of rehearsals,” the high school senior said on Friday. On Saturday, she had a seven-hour rehearsal.

Erter dances as Princess Clara in Salt Creek Ballet productions of “The Nutcracker” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, and 1 and 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie, and 1 and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14 and 15, at the College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. She is also featured in the Arabian Dance in the Hinsdale Central Auditorium show, which takes place at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, and 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at 5500 S. Grant St.

She’s been dancing seriously since third grade.

“Ballet offered me a way to express myself without talking,” Erter said. “I’m a big talker, but I have found ballet has decompressed me and allowed me to be with myself and given me so much confidence.”

Amid the whirl of high school, “it’s my own thing where I can go to and just be with myself performing. I absolutely love being on stage, and ‘The Nutcracker’ is my favorite thing to perform — it’s so happy.”

Ballet helped Erter cope through COVID-19.

“That was really hard. We did dance classes online,” Erter recalled. Her father installed a special floor to dance on at home and she wore a mask onstage to perform as young Clara in another “Nutcracker.”

“For dancers, it was so difficult because you just want to do what you love.”

Salt Creek Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” productions run across the suburbs starting Saturday, Nov. 30, through Dec. 15.

Dancer Ella Backus performs in Salt Creek Ballet's "The Nutcracker," which opens this weekend and runs through Dec. 15 at several suburban locations.

Dancer Ella Backus performs in Salt Creek Ballet's "The Nutcracker," which opens this weekend and runs through Dec. 15 at several suburban locations. (Photo provided by Keith Gerling)

Asked if she’s nervous, Erter said “taking a test at school makes me more nervous than being on stage. No matter what role it is, I just get a lot of adrenaline and I’m just so excited to go and do it.”

Erter intends to pursue dance in college, but she’s not sure if that will include “The Nutcracker,” so “ending off on that role is so exciting for me.”

For information and tickets, go to saltcreekballet.org/the-nutcracker.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241125/entertainment/so-excited-long-days-big-dreams-go-into-ballerinas-nutcracker-debut/

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