Alternative holiday ballet commissioned for WICA

When most people picture a ballet during this time of year, images of dancing sugarplum fairies and the sound of Tchaikovsky are sure to come to mind.

Christopher Stowell hopes to create a new holiday tradition with “Let It Snow: A Holiday Revue,” which runs Dec. 19-22 at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. The seasonal ballet is the organization’s very first fully commissioned work.

A board member for WICA with years of experience in dance, Stowell created a version of this show many years ago for Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland, where he served as executive director. The original inspiration came from a dinner party with the production’s dancers, who all had diverse holiday memories to share.

“What did sort of float to the top is a sense of nostalgia, and particularly for a lot of the foreign dancers, these classic American movies that they happened to grow up with, just as we did, represented a Western Christmas to them,” Stowell said.

He liked the aesthetic and vibe of classic films “White Christmas” and “Holiday Inn.” This feeling is enhanced by the 1920s supper club setting of WICA’s production, as Executive Artistic Director Deana Duncan explained.

“We’ve decorated the entire building in a snowy, winter land feel, we’ve designed a new craft cocktail, the Snowy Martini with fir-infused vodka, and Friday night features an after party with inspired small bites from our hospitality manager Suzie Reynolds,” Duncan said.

Stowell posed “Let It Snow” as an alternative to another popular holiday production.

“It’s designed to be what ‘Nutcracker’ isn’t, no disrespect to ‘Nutcracker,’ but this is, fun, lighthearted, and, maybe more for adults,” he said. “There’s nothing cute or sweet about it as much as it is fun, effervescent, silly.”

The performance features dancers Brian Simcoe, Luis Gonzalez, Lester Gonzalez, Xuan Cheng, Nicole Ciapponi and Madeline Bez, who are accompanied by Sheila Weidendorf on the piano and vocals by Ada Faith-Feyma and John Macarro.

Stowell acknowledged that it was challenging to find dancers who are available this time of year that are not already committed to a “Nutcracker” production.

“I really want it to be a great experience for them, not just artistically and as part of their career, but also personally — like enjoy the island, make new friends and feel festive together,” he said.

Stowell is the son of Pacific Northwest Ballet Founding Artistic Directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. He received his training at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet and has appeared in theaters throughout the world including the Paris Opéra, New York’s Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater.

Many years ago, WICA was gifted a dance fund from the Barbara LaBert family. Duncan said “Let It Snow” was made possible with this fund, which allowed WICA to purchase a professional dance floor and commission this contemporary professional ballet.

“This is so out of the box for us and for the Whidbey Island dance community,” Duncan said. “To have professional dancers in residence with us for two weeks, rehearsing, creating the show, and performing so close to the holidays is not only exciting but a recognition of the strength of Whidbey Island in attracting top talent.”

The original version of “Let It Snow” was performed in a 3,000-seat theater, which is never what Stowell envisioned for the show. WICA’s mainstage turned out to be the perfect setting.

All performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of a 2 p.m. matinee on Dec. 22. The jazzy, sophisticated show lasts 75 minutes with no intermission. Standard tickets cost $30; youth age 18 and under can enter for free. WICA Star tickets are $45.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit wicaonline.org/letitsnow.