ABOUT: LAVERNE REED

A LITTLE GIRL’S DISAPPOINTMENT SPAWNS

A CHRISTMAS MASTERPIECE:

The Birth of “The Chocolate Nutcracker”

 

(Birmingham, Alabama) – Christmastime is without doubt the most festive holiday of them all.  Along with the hustle-bustle of decorating and shopping, come a myriad of concerts, plays and musicals which help herald the joy of the season.  Since its Birmingham debut in 2009, Laverne Reed’s The Chocolate Nutcracker has become one of those anticipated events of the Christmas season.

As a young dancer, Laverne Reed grew up in South Philly in the 1950s taking small parts each year in the Balanchine version of The Nutcracker Ballet.  Although she was an extremely talented dancer, she was never cast as Claire, the lead role in the production.  It is well-known that this role is nearly always cast to Caucasian women.  As one might imagine, this was very disappointing for Reed to be overlooked as a matter of race rather than ability.  After years of disappointment, she decided that when she was older, she would change the way this part was cast.

 Reed introduced remarkable change to the classic ballet by creating a version which does not exclude any dancer on the basis of race, color, sex, size or even ability.  Though leading roles are cast according to those with greater proficiency, never are they cast according to the color of their skin.  Children, some as young as the age of 4, have performed with or without dance experience.  They all share the same stage in a way which allows everyone to “shine”.

Chocolate in the title does not denote segregation.  In the original Nutcracker, the main character, Clara is given a nutcracker as a gift.  In Reed’s production, chocolate refers specifically to the gift that the main character Claire receives as a gift at the Christmas party – a nutcracker made of Belgium Chocolate.  The storyline loosely follows the original version, but Claire’s dreams take her to locations which represent the variety of culture in our world.  And that is what makes this production a Christmas magnum opus.  It encourages instead of discourages.  It accepts instead of denies.  It takes a little girl’s exclusion and turns it into every child’s inclusion.  It is this story and the character of the performance which inspired Project Hopewell to present this to the Magic City.