When I started planning my rebooted theater column early this year, I didn’t think I would write about children’s ballet. I enjoy Tchaikovsky, but his pieces, especially The Nutcracker, have been dance school staples for so long that I couldn’t imagine having anything new to say about one of those annual rite-of-passage performances. It would be like using a religion column to write about this year’s First Communion class.
Then the Loudoun School of Ballet in Leesburg, Virginia, invited me to their rehearsal of an original production set to premier at the Weinberg Center this weekend. It had nothing to do with Tchaikovsky, and my interest was officially piqued.