She’s been dancing since the age of six and pirouetting to the lyrical notes of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker since she was 9 or 10. Now she’s 23, and a company dancer with New Ballet—and about to take on multiple roles in The San Jose Nutcracker, running Dec. 14–23 at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose.
“I’ve done three different Nutcrackers in my life,” Naomi Le says. The other two were with New Ballet’s predecessors, Ballet San Jose and Silicon Valley Ballet. Throughout it all, the San Jose native has been a protégé of Dalia Rawson, New Ballet’s executive director.
Le exudes joy over the process of preparing for the show, having just rehearsed “the grand part of the ballet where the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince are reunited and they do this beautiful duet together and show how much they love each other.”
In addition to dancing as Sugar Plum Fairy, Le also plays the lead role of Clara, the young girl whose toy nutcracker comes to life. “Clara was always portrayed in previous ballets as someone who needs saving,” Le says. But the way Rawson sees the character, Le explains, “She’s curious. She wants to learn. She’s courageous. It’s not like she’s never fearful—who gets to see their toy grow into a human-size thing and start dancing around?” Le muses. “She is scared. But she takes that fear into curiosity. And from that curiosity comes courageousness and confidence. … I’m allowed to feel all the emotions as this character. It’s really amazing.”
In her third role, Le dances as the Snow Queen in My Very First Nutcracker, a pared-down production for young children. Whenever she appears in costume, she can hear the children saying, “That’s Elsa!” She understands their excitement, saying that the Disney movie Frozen “was such a cultural reset button.”
Accompanying Le and the other dancers will be Symphony San Jose’s musicians, performing with the ballet for the first time since 2013. Audiences can expect all of the musical flourishes of the Nutcracker Suite, but Rawson’s production offers a different take on many of the dances.
“It does stray from the original Nutcracker quite a bit,” Le says, especially in the second act. “With our Nutcracker, every role is derived from something that reminds us all of San Jose. Through that we’re able to tackle some very bad stereotypes typically associated with this ballet.”
Anyone who’s ever seen Fantasia will remember the problematic imagery associated with some of the dances—Chinese, Arabian, Russian. “As a child, you don’t really see a problem,” Le says. “But now you look back and see the Arabians are sexualized, the Chinese with stereotypical hand placements.” In the New Ballet conjures up new images with agricultural references—such as waltzing bougainvilleas and a walnut that disgorges acrobatic dancers.
For Le, ballet started out as something her family pushed her to do. But by the time she reached high school, she says, “I realized I can’t imagine living a life without doing ballet.” Now out of college—she graduated from Santa Clara University—she supplements her work as a dancer by teaching younger students in the school attached to New Ballet.
As a teacher, Le takes inspiration from her mentors. In addition to Rawson, she works closely with school director Linh Mai Le. “I think that the [New Ballet] community really helps me enjoy ballet as an art by itself. Societally and stereotypically, ballet can be a very toxic place.”
Le is already anticipating what the coming months will bring for New Ballet. Next up is Fast Forward, a sampler of contemporary choreography, including a work by Julio Hong, a Montreal-based choreographer who’s creating a new work set to music by Tito Puente. “What’s crazy is he’s teaching us through Zoom, because he’s in Canada,” Le says.
“In the spring we’re doing Swan Lake, which is a tear-jerker,” Le says. “Honestly, everyone should come see it,” she says. “It’s the pinnacle of my career—I’m learning Odette/Odile. We’re really excited for this one. Even as a company, doing Swan Lake is a big step forward—it’s an extensive ballet, it’s incredibly difficult. … We need to be able to put our best foot forward.”
New Ballet’s The San Jose Nutcracker will be performed eight times from Dec. 14-23 at California Theatre, 345 S 1st St, San Jose. Tickets: $31.50–$121.50, visit newballet.com/nutcracker.
