CORRECTION (12:13 pm): Kailyn Lahey performed the role of Clara in one performance of the 2023 Danbury Music Centre production. This feature has been updated to clarify that point, and to add the name of the dancer originally cast in that role.

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Audiences recently enjoyed two performances of The Nutcracker Suite by students of Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet (NCCB). The show was staged as part of Newtown Holiday Festival — as well as a standalone event for those who chose to take in just a performance of the holiday show on December 8 — with Newtown High School freshman Kailyn Lahey handling the lead role of Clara.

The following weekend, regional audiences attended Danbury Music Centre’s production of Nutcracker Ballet. Featuring over 200 dancers from multiple studios across the area, this year’s three performances also featured the young Newtown resident in the principal role.

Kailyn’s path toward this season’s two productions may be rooted in her first viewing of The Nutcracker, 11 years ago this month. It was during the 2013 Newtown Holiday Festival, and she watched from the seats of Edmond Town Hall Theatre as Victoria Gozzi, who had just taken over as director of Newtown Centre for Classical Ballet, directed the production. Katerina Ringes had the coveted role of Clara that year.

That was also the year, according to Gozzi, Kailyn “fell in love with the part and decided she wanted to become a ballerina.”

Kailyn began dancing with NCCB within a year of that life-changing performance. Now 14, she is a strong dancer, “an incredible turner,” Gozzi said, and has had quite a season, playing the celebrated role not just once but twice.

‘A Selfless Act’

Before this month’s performances took place, Kailyn took a leap toward the coveted role last year when she made what Arthur Fredric calls “a selfless act of friendship.”

Danbury Music Centre has been presenting a fully staged Nutcracker Ballet for more than a half-century. Fredric and his wife Lisa Denton have been co-directing the holiday event since 1997.

Kailyn has been involved with the Danbury Nutcracker for years. Last year she’d been cast to play one of Clara’s friends.

“The remarkable thing about our show is all the children’s roles are played by children,” Fredric said last week. “We look every year to see where each performer has developed, and what they are bringing to the table.”

Fredric and Denton were aware of Kailyn and her growth over the years. When Fiona Shaw, last year’s Clara, fell so ill after the production’s first show on December 8 and had to bow out of the subsequent show, the couple turned toward the young Newtown resident.

What happened next was “one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in the theater,” Fredric said.

Fredric and Denton contacted Gozzi, as well as other partner experts and associates, the morning of December 9. They needed to find their Clara for at least the next performance scheduled that afternoon, if not also the following afternoon.

“We asked her dance teacher if she would be up to this, and she said ‘Yes, absolutely,” Fredric recalled. Among Kailyn’s strengths was the ability to partner with someone.

“She’s had partner work in her studio, which is important with our show. We have a duet scene,” he explained.

Gozzi said what was asked of Kailyn, “no kid can do. What she did was almost physically impossible.”

Kailyn proved herself that day, said her Danbury co-director.

“She literally came in that morning and started working with us,” said Fredric. “We couldn’t even get in the building yet. Lisa worked with her principally, with six other people there to back us up, to give her the maximum chance to get up on that stage.

“She learned the first part of the dance, literally on the sidewalk of Danbury High School, and she was amazing,” said Fredric.

Meanwhile, Kailyn was also being fitted for the costumes she would be wearing in just a few hours.

“They sewed around me while I was learning the choreography,” she said, laughing.

Among the biggest difference between the two productions, according to Kailyn, is the choreography.

“My studio is strictly ballet,” she said. “Lisa, in Danbury, has a jazz background, so that comes through. They’re two completely different shows.”

In just hours, Kailyn learned Act I in time for the 3 pm curtain that Saturday. Someone was offstage at all times, providing a mirror image of what she needed to do, but Kailyn was focused.

“There was no time to get nervous,” she said. “I didn’t feel nerves until after.”

She then learned Act II during the intermission and, says co-director Fredric, “her performance was flawless.”

While she may have picked up some of Clara’s choreography by watching her friend during rehearsals, said Fredric, Kailyn is still credited with showing “an amazing aptitude.”

When it came time to perform, “she was never just out there making the steps. She really was able to just absorb everything and do the show.”

The co-director gives Kailyn a lot of credit for not basking in the spotlight, which she could have done.

“With her though, it was never ‘This is my moment,” said Fredric. “It was always ‘A, It’s whatever it takes to help this show, and B, it’s to do whatever I can for my friend.’

“We teach that even though we have almost 200 people in the cast, we preach that we are an ensemble,” Fredric said. “We are interconnected, and we are here for each other. We are not a star system.”

Kailyn received a standing ovation.

Gozzi said it was “a nice moment” for her student.

“It gave her the confidence she deserved for that role. It broke her into the role, and they embraced it, and her, and she kind of proved she could handle the position, and the pressure, and she had a brilliant smile on her face even though her brain must have been going about 100 miles an hour.”

Shaw recovered enough to perform for the Sunday afternoon finale.

2024 Newtown Holiday Festival

Despite stepping into the role of Clara for her friend last year, Kailyn was never guaranteed the role this year, in either production she participated in. In fact, she said, she figured last year’s performance would be her one opportunity to play Clara.

“You usually get to play Clara only once, so I thought filling in last year would be my time,” she said.

Although a different dancer portrayed Clara for the 2023 Newtown Holiday Festival performances, Kailyn had made an impression during auditions when they took place a few months ago.

“Kailyn got on my radar last year, but there was another dancer in line in front of her that was qualified and did a great audition,” Gozzi said. “But I remember thinking ‘Kailyn did a really standout audition this year, and she’s on the short list for next year.’

When it was time to begin planning for this year’s festival, Gozzi said roles were still reliant on auditions, including Clara.

“For me, it comes down to the chemistry with the dancer playing the younger brother Fritz. It’s an all-girl company for me. Sometimes they’re mentally ready, while others may not be,” she said. “But the girl who was going to be Fritz, she worked very well with Kailyn, and when it came down to Kailyn and another girl I was looking at, it was clear: that was the match.”

Gozzi admits it is very difficult to choose between dancers, especially “when more than one is qualified, and you know they’ve dreamed of this all their lives, but you have to make the best decision for the show.”

Kailyn and another dancer in the NCCB studio are both able to hold themselves among the current high school seniors, according to Gozzi.

“She has this standout talent,” Gozzi said of Kailyn. “She and her friend have the talent and they have the respect of the seniors.

“She’s also very strong,” she said, before sharing a story of one event that helped Kailyn solidify that reputation while she was still in eighth grade. Back in the spring, following a long night of class, the dancers had asked Gozzi if they could do a competition, just for fun, before they left for the night.

“They wanted to do sautés, where a dancer basically stays in one spot and continues rotations without stopping,” Gozzi explained. Most of the dancers did 12-16 in a row, and one dancer did 32, “which is a famous number in many ballets.”

Then Kailyn took the floor.

“She started counting, and we started counting, and she got up to 54 and she just kept going,” Gozzi said. “Everybody’s jaw just dropped.”

That was the second time Kailyn broke a studio record. When she was 7 years old, according to Gozzi, Kailyn and fellow NCCB Ellie Raedy broke the studio’s jumping record together.

“They did 1,200 changement jumps without stopping,” said Gozzi.

Kailyn’s athleticism comes in part from her love of running. She also enjoys playing golf and tennis during the summer. Additionally, she is also one of four NCCB dancers currently on the Newtown High School Varsity Dance team.

The talented young dancer, says Gozzi, is “a joy to watch on stage.”

“She’s always kind of lit up when she’s on stage, naturally, and that’s something you cannot teach,” Gozzi said.

When it was time for the two shows at Edmond Town Hall earlier this month, Kailyn and the entire cast made their director very happy. Each performance runs approximately 75 minutes, with a break between.

“I have to say, it was one of the best festivals for us yet,” Gozzi said.

Dancers usually have their fresh feet showing during the noon performance, and show a little fatigue by the time of the 2:30 performance. This year it was the opposite.

“The 12 o’clock show was one of the most packed we’ve ever had, and the 2:30 show was the best the kids have ever performed. We have six seniors this year and I always root for them to have great performances.”

And Kailyn?

“She did great,” said Gozzi.

Danbury ‘Nutcracker Ballet’ 2024

As with the Newtown production, Kailyn was not guaranteed the role of Clara for the Danbury Music Centre production this year.

Having already been “so happy and shocked” to learn she would be playing Clara for her home studio, Kailyn would have been very happy to land a different role for this season’s Danbury production. Over the years and through the two different productions, she has danced as members of the Arabian, Chinese, Russian and Spanish courts, and in the roles of Angel, Rat, Flower, Snowflake and Ballerina Doll.

Auditions for the music center took place about a week after NCCB’s cast was announced. The co-directors were impressed all over again when she arrived.

“This year Kailyn walked in and had clearly gone probably two notches with her technique,” Fredric said. “She was really at the high echelon of where she would be cast in the show, based on what she brought to the audition this year. She really earned the role of Clara.”

The Danbury Music Centre performances run approximately two hours. Kailyn was one of 14 Newtown resident dancers in this year’s production. Three additional residents were in the pit orchestra.

“I think the party scene is longer, and they incorporate a few additional dances, including a duet with Clara and The Prince,” Kailyn said of the regional production.

Kailin and Julius Tangorra — who was cast as The Prince this year — did very well with their duet. Fredric said he was “very proud of how hard they worked.”

The co-director relies on Noel Bernard, one of the show’s choreographers, who has also played Cavalier for a few years in the DMC production, for guidance with that duet.

“He knows the role of The Prince, and the partnering, from the male point of view,” according to Fredric.

Clara’s choreography comes from Lisa Peterson, “who knows that dance from the female point of view,” Fredric said, “so between the two of them there’s a lot of expertise there, and all that was commented to Kailyn and Julius, and was well received.

“You could see over time they were getting better and better, and gelled,” Fredric said.

Talent and timing gelled this year for Kailyn Lahey, who does not take any of her roles for granted. She remains polite and modest. Dance is about friendships, supporting fellow dancers, and reaching goals that are rewarding, she said.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.