New Orleans Event Photography: The Nutcracker

New Orleans Event Photography

The Nutcracker

I first met the Curran Family at their daughter’s birthday party. I had been hired to capture the event and had no idea that I would spend the next eight years documenting these kids as they grew from young children to young adults. Ceci was just 8, her other brother Liam was about to turn 11, and her little sister Cami Rose (or Rosie) was only 4 and completely her sister’s shadow. What started as just photographing birthday parties turned into documenting the many performances the kids did throughout the year. First it was just at school but soon it was in the Nutcracker with the ballet.

Ceci and Rosie both have a knack for performance and love being on stage. While Ceci is more of a performer at heart, Rosie can jump higher than any kid I’ve ever seen. This landed her some great roles in the Nutcracker over the years. It even got her featured in the program and on the DVD cover!

While seeing the same performance every year does get old after a while, I was always excited to see which roles the girls were in and watch them grow as performers. Two years their dad made an appearance in the party scene too! Their parents, Missy and Bill, have always been superstar stage parents getting them to rehearsals, doing hair and makeup, and often missing parts of performances while helping out backstage. That’s why it was so important to them that I capture photos of their babies on stage.

After the show in 2013.

The first year I captured the Nutcracker was 2012. Ceci had a role as one of the Chinese dancers in the party scene at the start of Act I and tiny Rosie was a Cherub in the Act II entrance. Her exit from the scene was the leap that made her famous!

In 2013, Rosie and Ceci got to both be in the same scene together! Ceci was an angel and Rosie was a Cherub again in the scene II entrance. I think Rosie might have done her leap off the wrong side of the stage but she was leaping towards her sister which made it an adorably appropriate goof.

Ceci on pointe in her solo.

They took a break in 2014 and in 2015 were back! Rosie got the adorable role of the first mouse on stage, eating a piece of cheese at the start of the rat king scene. And it was Ceci’s first year On Pointe as part of the Drosselmeyer’s court (a role her sister would play her first year on pointe!). This also meant Ceci got to be on stage for bows for the first time. You could see how proud she was!

Bill and Ceci in the party scene.

In 2016 they were joined by their father, Bill, for the party scene! It was great to watch him on stage for the first time while Ceci got to play a doll in the party scene again (a different one this time.) This was an excellent role for Ceci to show off her skills on pointe. She was so poised and professional. She did a fantastic job! Since Bill was in the party scene too, they gave him the job of putting Ceci back in the box when her solo was over. Rosie had finally outgrown the cherub role and took over her sister’s role as an angel!

In 2017, Ceci made her debut as a party girl in the party scene as Bill returned to reprise his party dad role. They got to interact with each other more which I know they both loved. Ceci doubled up roles for the first time this year and returned in Act II as part of the Chinese Dragon. Rosie got to play a Polichinette which is one of my absolute favorite numbers in the whole ballet! Even though she was wearing a full face of white and black makeup identical to the other Polis, I could pick her out. I got to go backstage afterward that year which was really exciting!

Last year in 2018, I caught two performances as the girls played different roles on different nights. The first weekend, Ceci reprised her party girl role and Rosie was a Poli again. But the second weekend they got new roles! Ceci got to play a rat! The role allowed space for a lot of improv and she really made it her own. The costumes completely cover the dancers’ faces but I could pick Ceci out because she was the smallest! That and after years of watching her perform, I could really pick out her style of improv. The Little Bo Peep number got swapped out for a French situation with a brand new solo- Fifi the poodle. This role went to Rosie! She was the cutest little poodle ever jumping high into the air again and again before leaping into an adult dancer’s arms to be carried offstage. She got to return for bows too!

Rosie as Fifi

The girls together in the party scene.

This year, Rosie joined Ceci as a party girl. They were together on stage the whole party scene and I could tell they loved performing together. But Ceci had to run off stage before the scene was over to quick change into her rat costume. She wasn’t supposed to play a rat this year but another dancer had broken her foot and Ceci stepped up to take her place with only one dress rehearsal run-through of a role she hadn’t played in a year! She didn’t have a chance to practice the quick change in real-time, either, so she didn’t know how tough it would be. She couldn’t get her wig off so shoved the mask on over top- which made it so she couldn’t see! She ran out onto stage almost completely blind and did the whole number completely from memory. She has some issues with her coat and gloves during the number too but she just kept going. I was afraid she’d be upset but she laughed it off and said it was actually a lot of fun. That’s a true performer right there! Rosie was on pointe for the first time and stepped onto the stage in the role her sister played her first year on pointe, part of the Drosselmeyer’s court. She was hard to see as they had her placed upstage and she was the smallest dancer in the scene. But I got what I could and made sure to grab some shots of her during bows.

It has been such a privilege to watch these kids grow from little bitties to young women. And a unique experience as a New Orleans Event Photographer. I’m looking forward to what roles they take on next!