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“Pretty much everyone knows at this point,” Bonnie said during a telephone interview last Friday afternoon, before heading to nearby Springfield, Vt., for yet another class at The Dance Factory studio. “I’m never able to do much after school.”
They’re seeing even less of Bonnie these days, as she prepares to play the lead role of Clara in The Dance Factory’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker this weekend at Springfield High School.
“She has made a big commitment to dance in the last few years,” Nutcracker director Ashley Hensel-Browning wrote during an exchange of emails last weekend. “She takes many more dance classes than most kids her age, but it is her joyful passion that is truly unique. As you get older, the work of dance becomes a bigger part of the experience and Bonnie seems to delight in pushing herself and finding what she is capable of in her dancing body. She thrives on being challenged.”
The challenge of keeping up with everyday schoolwork intensified this fall with Bonnie taking on the central role of Clara.
“It’s really hard this year, now that I’m in middle school,” she said. “I have to do some of my homework between dance classes. I take classes about 12 hours during the week, and we’ve had our rehearsals on Sundays that go three or four hours. … And I’ve been studying my part every night.”
It’s the kind of part for which, Hensel-Browning noted, some dance schools hire soloists, while The Dance Factory starts preparing younger students by letting them dance in the Mother Goose scene of The Nutcracker, as Blake did, in addition to playing a page and a candy cane over the years.
“Bonnie has been in our production for many years,” Hensel-Browning said, “and has spent much time in the studio observing rehearsals, and has been dreaming of dancing this role for a long time.”
That dream came true earlier this fall, after a bit of suspense.
“Every year, they pick someone around my age,” Bonnie said. “I guess I was just ready. I wasn’t really sure till the cast list went up.”
Hensel-Browning and other faculty at The Dance Factory were sure as soon as casting began.
“Bonnie has been dancing for many years and takes many different styles of dance,” Hensel-Browning wrote. “She is beautiful to watch because she innately connects to the emotion and story she is conveying when she dances, not just the technique. … She has also grown tremendously as a ballet dancer in the past year, taking many dance classes every week and spending a few weeks at a ballet summer intensive as well. Although she is one of the younger dancers in her classes, she is the leader of the group with her passion and commitment.”
As part of that commitment, Bonnie has been watching more videos of professional productions of The Nutcracker than she had before previous performances by The Dance Factory, where her mother, Dana Blake, teaches.
“It’s in the blood,” Dana Blake said last week.
All the same, Bonnie expects to welcome the two-week hiatus from classes that will follow The Nutcracker. And come spring, her schedule will ease enough for her to spend more time at school after classes.
“I do softball every year, because it’s at the end of the year,” she said. “That’s always a nice break.”
Bonnie Blake, of Weathersfield, stars as Clara in The Dance Factory’s 25th production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker on Saturday night at 7 and Sunday afternoon at 2, at Springfield (Vt.) High School. Admission is $8 to $13, with proceeds going to the high school’s drama program.
Sydney Johnstone, of Plainfield, performed with St. Olaf College’s Manitou Singers, during the Minnesota school’s internationally renowned Christmas Festival over the first weekend of December. A graduate of Lebanon High School, Johnstone is majoring in performance.
The University of Northwestern Ohio recently named Travis L. King, of Corinth, to its dean’s list for the fall session. King maintained a grade point average of 3.5 or better out of a possible 4.0 during his studies in the school’s College of Applied Technologies.
Hartland Elementary School this week is collecting winter clothes, children’s books and toys and games, assorted household items and non-perishable foods, as part of its annual holiday collaboration with Hartland residents and churchgoers to help families in need.
Household items can include bedding, towels, toiletries and cleaning supplies. The collection will not accept boots or shoes.
To learn more, or to ask about how to receive assistance, call Jeanne Frazer at 802-436-2792.
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ mascot, Fungo, recently visited Lebanon’s Hanover Street School, as part of the minor-league baseball team’s effort to encourage New Hampshire students and schools to raise their reading levels.
In one of dozens of assemblies around the state, Fungo brought to the Hanover Street students books and games, and announced that students who read five books outside of the school curriculum will earn two tickets to a game during the 2017 season, before which they’ll be recognized on the field.
To request a school-assembly visit or to learn more about the Fisher Cats Reading Challenge, call 603-641-2005 or email readinchallenge@nhfishercats.com.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Education news and announcements also can be sent to schoolnotes@vnews.com.