Senior Audrey Walker will be starring in the Lake Shore Dance performance of The Nutcracker Ballet. This show will take place at the CPAC at various times Dec. 8, 12 and 16. 

For the 18th year, Lake Shore Dance will be sharing this classic story about a young girl named Clara, who receives a Nutcracker as a gift on Christmas Eve. The Nutcracker comes to life, and Clara embarks on an adventure through the magical kingdom with the Nutcracker.

Walker was cast as the role of older Clara, which, she said, “has been a role (she’s) always wanted.” Walker, who has been dancing ballet since she was 7 years old, has had the opportunity of dancing many roles in the Nutcracker ballet before older Clara.

As dancers grow older, she said, they often adjust to new roles. Junior Apprentices typically play rats and soldiers; Apprentices take on such as soldiers and candy canes; Core Students perform as Chinese tea, clowns, and angels; Secondary Students portray roles such as Tertella and Russian; and Walker herself, as a Soloist Principal, holds the highest-level student role in the company, receiving solo roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy or the Snow Queen.

Walker said her favorite dance and piece of music is “the dance inside of grand pas deux. There is a lot of emotion put into it by the composer. It’s a very emotional moment for our entire group.”

This moment is especially impactful for Walker because it will be her last year performing The Nutcracker Ballet with the dance company. 

“It circles back around to when I was in the Nutcracker as younger Clara in 6th grade,” Walker said.

Walker hopes that the audience can connect to the love story between the Nutcracker and Clara and be able to see the emotion through the dancers by understanding how hard they have worked. 

Her best advice for aspiring ballerinas is that dancing “takes a lot of work and it takes belief in yourself and your abilities.”