AUSTIN, Texas — Although the holiday season is over, one iconic holiday performance has made its way into the new year.
Ballet Afrique’s "Nutcracker" performs the classic ballet and reimagines in a unique way.
"It takes place in Harlem, [in the] 1920s,” said China Smith, the founding artistic director of Ballet Afrique.
Smith dreamt up the production several years ago when she discovered Duke Ellington reimagined songs from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.
"What's beautiful about jazz music and classical music is that there's no words. And so, when there's no words, you're free to build interpretations,” Smith said.
The combination of styles is what makes Ballet Afrique so special for its dancers.
"As a Black dancer, Ballet Afrique is literally the only place I can go and not be the only Black person in the room trying to do dance,” said Paris Calvert, a former Ballet Afrique company dancer.
Because Smith had nothing like this as a young dancer, she decided to create the company 15 years ago.
"I had no access, no, no exposure until I went into high school. And by the time I went into high school, I didn't have the skills,” Smith said. “I didn't have the knowledge."
Now Smith is building up generations of dancers like Calvert, who is currently a dance major at Howard University.
"I think it wouldn't have gone this far if I didn't meet Miss China, and if I didn't start here with Ballet Afrique,” Calvert said. "Miss China makes sure that Nutcracker is not just ballet, but it's ... an experience."
Smith hopes to provide that joyous experience of dance to all her dancers.
"I want my dancers to understand that all spaces are for them, that we can go into beautiful spaces and create things,” Smith said.
And she’s left this lesson with her younger dancers to take on and off the stage.
"It's important for especially younger black dancers to know that, 'OK, just because I'm built a certain way, just because I'm a little stronger, I can do this, I can do that.' That it's not wrong,” Calvert said.
Ballet Afrique’s The Nutcracker Suite is only a one-day performance, but it will return again next year.