Elizabeth Forward students get decked out for ‘The Nutcracker’

By Christine Haines
chaines@yourmvi.com

Elementary students in the Elizabeth Forward School District spent time in recent weeks studying Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”
Kristy Ochs taught children in kindergarten through fifth grade at Central Elementary about “The Nutcracker” while Lisa Zubritsky taught similar material to students in grades three through five at Mount Vernon Elementary School.
Just as each live performance is different, so were the classes.
Students at Central spent December watching portions of the ballet performed by students at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York.
Mount Vernon students watched a performance by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater after weeks of studying the music and ballet.
“Each class we have looked at a movement or a dance,” Ochs said. “They loved it. Most of them haven’t been to the ballet to see ‘The Nutcracker,’ so it was a real cultural experience for them.”
Zubritsky said her students had planned to dress up for the PBT performance just as if they had taken a field trip to see the ballet. The day of the show ended up being a snow day, so the event was doubly virtual.
“Some of the fifth-grade kids dressed up at home in their suits and pretty dresses,” Zubritsky said.
Zubritsky and Ochs said “The Nutcracker” offers something for everyone to appreciate.
“We watched the ballet and talked about what a prima ballerina is and the different types of dance and movement. It was fun to hear what their favorite parts were,” Ochs said. “Some of the boys liked the battle between the soldier and the Mouse King.”
Zubritsky said some of the dances are very acrobatic.
“We talked about how these people are athletes,” Zubritsky said.
Zubritsky talked to her students about how the dancers tell the story through their movements and almost in pantomime at times, making them actors as well as dancers.
Both teachers explored the instruments used in the music, particularly the celesta, which was a new instrument at the time of the composition in 1892.
“It’s the bell-like instrument heard in the ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies,’” Zubritsky said. “It was the first time it was ever heard in Russia … It’s the same instrument you hear at the beginning of Mr. Rogers with the trolley and in the music in the Harry Potter movies.”
Ochs had some of her students write about what they heard and saw, including fourth-grade students who kept a listening journal.
“The kids are able to write and reflect more about how the music made them feel and what they noticed,” Ochs said.
Working only with the older elementary students, Zubritsky had them consider the differences between the video performance from the ballet school and the PBT production and how the original performance more than 100 years ago may have been even more different.
“I explained to them that it would be different and that’s how it would be if they went to see it in person,” Zubritsky said. “We talked about how the costumes would have changed from 1892 to 2020. It also gave us an opportunity to talk about how no matter where you go, it would be different.”
The teachers agreed that one of the most important aspects of the unit was to provide students with new experiences.
“Hopefully, this sparks an interest when they are adults. Our job as elementary teachers is to give them a varied experience,” Zubritsky said.
“We’re trying to keep the arts alive and keep the kids loving it and learning it and experiencing it,” Ochs said.