International ballet star returns home to kick off ‘Nutcracker’ season in Columbia
Before he danced in “Nutcracker” performances all over the world, Joseph Phillips was a third-grader on a school field trip to the theater, discovering ballet for the first time. He saw “The Nutcracker.”
A few years later, Phillips was an 11-year-old learning to dance in a Columbia ballet studio. His first memorable performance? “The Nutcracker.”
“In the dance community, that’s how everybody kind of got into dance, performing-wise,” said a reminiscent Phillips. “Especially in America, all dancers and companies have some kind of emotional (attachment) to ‘The Nutcracker’ because that was the one show every school does, everybody does.”
Now with a 17-year ballet career, five international gold medals and numerous accolades under his belt, 34-year-old Phillips is back where his story began, helping to tell the story that has inspired countless young dancers and has been the centerpiece of family holiday traditions for generations. Columbia offers ample opportunities to take part in that tradition over the next month.
Phillips, dubbed the “golden boy of ballet,” has returned home to perform this weekend in Columbia’s first “Nutcracker” shows of the holiday season. He’ll dance alongside 75 students of the woman who first taught him dance, Columbia Ballet School founder Anita Ashley.
“This is a big deal with bringing Joseph in. There are dozens of little girls who have their noses pressed to the glass” watching him rehearse, said Ashley, who has stayed in touch with her famous student over the years. “I’m a little nervous. I feel like the bar has been raised very high.”
Phillips’ presence is a high-profile kickoff to the city’s month-long “Nutcracker” season, which features at least 16 performances by both professional and amateur companies, offering an experience fit for every kind of family and audience.
“It’s an opportunity that comes once a year for children and families to really experience the ballet, and they don’t have to know anything about ballet,” Ashley said. “A lot of people are put off by ballet because they don’t know what’s happening. It makes them uncomfortable, so they stay away. ... But ‘The Nutcracker’ has this accessibility to it. Everybody can relate to it.”
The 127-year-old ballet is practically synonymous with Christmastime. The two-act tale, with its iconic score by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is full of fantasy and warmth that set the stage for the holiday season. For many people, young and old, “The Nutcracker” will be their first — perhaps only — acquaintance with live theater or fine arts.
“It’s just not Christmas without ‘The Nutcracker,’” said William Starrett, director of the Columbia City Ballet, which will perform six “Nutcracker” shows next month at the Koger Center for the Arts. “It’s such a universal story of dreams coming true, and it’s so amazing. The music is iconic.”
Starrett, himself an icon of the Columbia arts community, has danced in or produced “The Nutcracker” for 51 years.
Despite the show’s familiarity, Starrett said he tries to keep the performance fresh every year. This year, he’s made a few adaptations to the traditional narrative of young Clara, her beloved nutcracker doll and their dreamy journey through fantastical lands.
“It’s really fun to turn other people onto (‘The Nutcracker’). There’s so many people who make it a tradition,” Starrett said. “I change it every year so that people who make it a tradition don’t think it’s boring.”
Watching “The Nutcracker” at Christmastime was not among Phillips’ family traditions growing up. But performing it became an integral part of his career, as it does for many ballet dancers.
Since becoming a professional at age 17, Phillips has danced in “The Nutcracker” almost every year, including monthly while he was performing with the State Primorsky Theater of Opera and Ballet in Russia, where he lived and worked for four years. He currently lives in the Philippines, where he teaches and dances as a guest with Ballet Manila.
After performing three shows with the Columbia Ballet School this weekend at A.C. Flora High School, Phillips will dance “The Nutcracker” at least a dozen more times this season with companies in New Orleans and Connecticut, he said.
“Each girl you dance with is different,” Phillips said. “It’s such a big thing to be happy with the person you’re dancing with. I’m not good at acting. If I’m not getting along with the person I’m dancing with, it’s very hard to go on stage.”
Dancing this weekend as the Sugar Plum Cavalier, Phillips may be the international star on the stage, but his 16-year-old partner, Lindsey Christian as the Sugar Plum Fairy, is the star of the show. His role is to help her shine.
“When I’m dancing with Lindsey, I’m trying to make her improve. That’s my job now. ... I want to bring her to the next level,” Phillips said. “She has the ability to be a professional. She can, with perseverance.”
“That’s such an honor for especially Joseph to say that about me,” said Christian, a high school junior at Columbia’s Hammond School. “It just makes me more confident about my dancing that he thinks that.”
Before Christian knew she would be dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy, she thought, “Wow, whoever gets to dance with him is going to be so lucky,” she said.
She has welcomed Phillips’ coaching and encouragement. Dancing with him, she said, feels like they are equal on the stage, “rather than like two different people dancing the same dance.”
A week out from their first performance, Phillips led Christian through the sequences of their duet, the pas de deaux. Christian, serious and sophisticated, looks at Phillip with trust. He is studious, offering slight corrections and suggestions to his young partner.
As they dance, Phillips the Cavalier gazes admirably upon Christian the Fairy.
Ashley beams at her two students. Her “Nutcracker” is coming to life.
See ‘The Nutcracker’ in Columbia this season
There are at least 16 chances to see the beloved Christmas ballet in Columbia from now until Christmas.
Columbia Ballet School
Performing at A.C. Flora High School
Friday, Nov. 15, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 6 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 17, 3 p.m.
Tickets: $10-$15, available at www.eventbrite.com
Ann Brodie’s Carolina Ballet
Performing at the Township Auditorium
Wednesday, Nov. 27, 10 a.m. (special school performances)
Friday, Nov. 29, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 1, 3 p.m.
Tickets: $12.50-$21.50, available at Township Auditorium box office. Call 803-576-2356 for ticket information.
Columbia Classical Ballet
Performing at the Koger Center for the Arts
Friday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7, 3 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 8, 3 p.m.
Tickets: $6-$35, available at www.kogercenterforthearts.com
Columbia City Ballet
Performing at the Koger Center for the Arts
Saturday, Dec. 14, 3 p.m. *Nutcracker Tea 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 15, 3 p.m. *Nutcracker Tea 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 21, 3 p.m. *Nutcracker Tea 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 22, 3 p.m.
Tickets: $22-$54, available at www.kogercenterforthearts.com
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 9:00 AM.
