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Thursday November 30, 2006 Subscription $21.50 per year USPS 066-780 Vol. 49 No. 5 75¢

A New Clara TakesCenterstage

Celebrating her first season as Clara in Seiskaya Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, is 14 year old Karissa Kralik of Lake Grove. The Cen-tereach High School ninth grader is excited about earning a role for which she has dreamed since age three when she saw her first Nutcracker. She will appear opposite Michael Cusumano [Nutcracker], a Seiskaya alum-nus, who, after a career at Ameri-can Ballet Theatre, moved on to Broadway.

“This is my sixth Seiskaya Nutcracker. I have been lucky to have had the opportunity to perform all the roles assigned to younger dancers including Angel, Soldier and Polichinelle before taking on more challenging roles. I loved being one of Bo Peep’s Sheep which was my first Nut-cracker role en pointe. A Friend of Clara and Fritz followed as did Flower and Snowflake. This season, along with Clara, I have been elevated to Flower soloist,”

she not only was the second prize winner in the Junior Division of the inaugural BESFI Challenge Ballet Competition at the Staller

Center, but she also went on to win of the second prize scholarship award in the Se-nior Division of the Ballet Education and Scholarship Fund’s annual scholarship competition. A true competi-

tor, in 2006 she won accep-tances to both the School of American Ballet’s Summer Program, American Ballet Theatre’s Intensive Sum-mer Workshop in NYC . Furthermore, Karissa was only one of ten students selected from national au-ditions to attend Suzanne Farrell’s Cedar Island Pro-gram. Described alternately as “lavish and sumptu-ous,” “Enchanting” and “polished” by Newsday, Seiskaya Ballet’s Nut-cracker at the Staller Cen-ter is scheduled for eight performances on Decem-ber 9, 10, 16 and 17. The Saturday performances will begin at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., while the Sunday perfor-mances will begin at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets cost $34 for adults, and $29 for students and

senior citizens. Tickets for groups of 20 or more are $25. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Staller Center box office, calling the box office at 631-632-ARTS, or through the Seiskaya Ballet’s Nutcracker website at www.nut-crackerballet.com.

By Phillip L. Sciarillo

noted the lithesome dancer in a recent interview. According to Valia Seiskaya, Seiskaya Ballet’s vaunted Artistic

Director, “Rissy has the perfect blend of strong classical ballet technique, charisma and act-ing ability required for the role of Clara. Our Clara requires a dancer to remain childlike dur-ing the party scene and then show maturity when she dances the romantic pas de deux with the Nutcracker. An exacting mime scene ensues in the sec-ond act when the Nutcracker and Clara tell the Sugar Plum and her Court of their adventures with the Mouse King.” When asked what is the most difficult aspect of preparing for Clara, Kralik responded, “It’s

difficult to pretend to fall in love with an inanimate object. Seiska-ya’s Clara is danced all en pointe, and Clara is on stage a majority of the time. There are several lifts in the pas de deux which are fun but really demanding. Clara is a challenge both physically and emotionally.” A dancer of some note in her own right, Kralik has two prior lead roles on her resume includ-ing Vivaldi Concerto in D Ma-jor and Ensemble. In addition,

Karissa Kralik as Clara and Michael Cusumano as the

Nutcracker are set to perform at the Staller Center

Karissa Kralik (Clara) and Ashton Hsu (Fritz) fight over

the Nutcracker

Karissa ofCentereach as Clara