Vancouver Courier, Goh brings Nutcracker to life - Goh Ballet ...

Goh brings Nutcracker to life
‘New creation’ includes students and professionals.
By Layne Christensen, Vancouver Courier, December 9, 2009
When the curtain rises on the Goh Ballet’s presentation of The Nutcracker Dec. 17 at
the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, a prima ballerina will be watching from the
wings.
Chan Hon Goh, former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, is executive
producer and artistic co-ordinator for the Vancouver-based production. Goh steps into
the demanding behind-the-scenes-role after retiring in May from a 20-year career on the
stage with Canada’s premiere dance company.
The 40-year-old dancer says the holiday classic is close to her heart.
“The Nutcracker really had a special significance for me,” says the Beijing-born Goh, on
the phone from the Goh Ballet Academy, the Vancouver dance school founded in 1979
by her parents, Choo Chiat and Lin Yee Goh. “Growing up, I was exposed to the various
productions and I always wished that I could be up there.”
In Beijing, her parents were principal dancers with the National Ballet of China before
the family moved to Vancouver when she was eight. It wasn’t until after joining the
National Ballet, following her training with the Goh Ballet Academy, that she received
the opportunity, dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy as her first full-length role with the
company.
Discussions surrounding a local production of The Nutcracker began about three years
ago, said Goh, who lives in West Vancouver with her husband Chun Che, a ballet
teacher, and son Aveary, almost four.
In September, the academy held open auditions for young dancers from schools
throughout the Vancouver area and beyond. Among more than 60 students selected to
perform is 16-year-old Danielle Gould, who will make her debut as the Snow Queen.
Clara –what Goh calls “the most precious role for any little girl” –will be performed by
three young dancers from the academy.
The students will be joined on stage by several professionals. Ken Guan, a Goh Ballet
instructor and former soloist with the Suzanne Ferrell Ballet Co., will perform the lead in
the Spanish Dance. National ballet of Canada principal dancers Sonia Rodriguez and

Piotr Stanczyk will grace the stage as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier Prince,
respectively.
“This is a brand new
creation,” says Goh.
“Our choreographer,
Anna-Marie Holmes,
has been working with
our dancers and
students in the studio
to create a new
version. Holmes’
innovations include
some unconventional
casting, such as using
a magician rather than
a dancer to play the
part of Drosselmeyer
to enthrall audiences
with “real illusions and
magic tricks.”
Theo Duff-Grant as Fritz & Mary Liu as Clara; Photo Credit: David Cooper
The presentation’s elaborate sets and costumes are by Zhang Dinghao and Li Ming,
who will fly in from China to oversee the production.
The Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s memorable
“Nutcracker Suite” live at all five performances, something that Goh is most excited
about. “To dance to live music and to work with a conductor is a really important path
when you are a young dancer. To offer the pre-professionals this type of experience is
really amazing.”
Goh Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker runs Dec. 17 to 19 at 7:30p.m and Dec 19 to
20 at 2p.m., at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts.