Tucson Regional Ballet's "A Southwest Nutcracker"

Left: Timothy J. Reckart hugs his daughter, Lizzie, 11, between rehearsal scenes. Reckart has been a volunteer in the party scene of the ballet since the show's inception. Over the last 14 years, he has seen all three of his daughters move through Tucson Regional Ballet's ranks. (James Gregg / Arizona Daily Star)


This article strikes me right in the heart!

I was a student at Linda Walker's ballet school from 1985 through 1988, during the years of growth and transition, when Tucson Community Ballet moved out of its storefront on Speedway and into its current location on N. Wilmot.

Now, many happy years later, Linda Walker's Tucson Regional Ballet is a far larger operation, and the "Southwest Nutcracker" is an amazing testament to Linda's choreographic, teaching, and managerial skills.

A thousand bouquets to Linda and her fellow dancers!:

The scene is chaotic on a Saturday afternoon at Linda Walker's Academy of Ballet on the Northeast Side. At least it is to those unfamiliar with Tucson Regional Ballet's weekend rehearsals for its annual production of "A Southwest Nutcracker."

In one room, swarms of young girls in multicolored leotards — half pretending to be coyotes, the other half Fort Lowell cavalry soldiers — are battling in a carefully choreographed scene while 30 more dancers watch from the sidelines.

Two rooms down, 10 adult volunteers, including professors, a therapist, a lawyer and a physician, are soon hashing out the "Nutcracker's" opening party scene, trying their best to mimic what a soiree thrown by a well-to-do Tucson family in the 1880s might look like.

Walker, dressed head-to-toe in royal blue, calls out directions to her performers from a chair in the volunteer room as Tchaikovsky's classic "Nutcracker" score blares through speakers connected to an aging silver stereo system.

"It all comes together in the end," Walker explained. "We know exactly how this thing is done. It is a big puzzle right now, but all the pieces will fit."

Walker is an old pro when it comes to "A Southwest Nutcracker," a Tucson take on the classic fairy-tale ballet, as are many of the 150 cast, crew and volunteers.

Next weekend's performances will mark the adaptation's 15th anniversary.
Over the years, "A Southwest Nutcracker" has become just as much of a tradition for the people involved with it as it has for the fans who come and watch. From the dancers, to the costume makers, to the choreographers, everyone comes away with something special, and everyone has put their best foot forward to get the production where it is today.

The vision

Walker's road to "A Southwest Nutcracker" has been a slow-going series of baby steps.

Having served as a student at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York and with the San Francisco Ballet, Walker moved to Tucson from California in the mid-1970s. By 1981, she had her own school up and running in a one-room storefront on the East Side.

Walker opened the school to teach her own daughter how to dance. "I wasn't particularly pleased with the teaching quality that was being offered in Tucson back then," she said. But it wasn't long before students began pouring in.

By 1983, Walker, with help from key community members, had created a separate nonprofit performance group, the Tucson Regional Ballet, or Tucson Community Ballet as it was then known.

Both the school and the company continued to grow over the next decade until Walker, who had already moved her school into a 5,000-square-foot facility on North Wilmot Road, decided that it was time for her company to take on the "The Nutcracker."

From the very beginning, Walker wanted her "Nutcracker" to have Tucson ties.
"I had seen a video of a 'Nutcracker' that Rudolf Nureyev had choreographed that was set in Paris instead of Germany," Walker said. "All the names were French. They had costumes and characters to portray the French lifestyle. I asked my co-director how she would feel about setting our 'Nutcracker' in Tucson. She was cautious but was willing to give it a shot."

The company began buying fabric from local vendors and piecing costumes together from repertory works performed in years prior. All new choreography was created, as were Southwestern equivalents of traditional 'Nutcracker' characters.

The main character, a young German girl named Clara, became Maria. The dancing sugarplum fairy was now a prickly pear. Mischievous mice turned into coyotes, and snowflakes still appeared, but in Tucson Regional's rendition, they were falling at the top of Mount Lemmon.

People loved it. The production's first shows at the Leo Rich Theatre sold at 80 percent capacity when it debuted in 1994, and the fan base has continued to grow. Sets and backdrops have been built up. Costumes have been improved upon. In 2004, the company moved from the intimate Leo Rich to the much larger Tucson Music Hall, and the production now receives live musical accompaniment from members of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

Today, "A Southwest Nutcracker" has a budget of $135,000, paid for through grants, ticket sales and private donors.

Progress has been steady, but Walker says the hundreds of young girls who have participated over the years, including those who have stuck with the company, are what matter.

"Seeing these children that I have had in my company for 13 years walk through my door as young women makes my life happy and gives it quality," Walker said. "I am so blessed to have all of this."