Edgewater Teen in Chesapeake Ballet's 'Nutcracker'

Julia Blandford, 13, of Edgewater, was one of the dancers this year in the Chesapeake Ballet Company's performance of "The Nutcracker," a ballet in two acts by Tchaikovsky. Blandford is an eighth-grader at  in Edgewater.

She danced the role of Party Girl in Act I. There she was one of the party-going characters who attended the party where the nutcracker is given to Clara and then broken by her brother Fritz.

In Act II, Blandford danced as one of the Chinese soloists who the Sugar Plum Fairy brings onstage to showcase teas brought back from China for the heroine.

Blandford said she did not hesitate to audition because this is her fourth year being involved with the Chesapeake Ballet Company. She has been in two other Nutcracker performances.

"I've been mouse doll, waltz, angel. This was the biggest part. The Chinese dancers are just two dancers with two other little girls who follow onstage," Blandford said.

She said she loves going to the auditions and this year really liked the way Dimitri Malikov, the director/choreographer put the show and her dances together.

"It was a lot of little steps and jumps—a lot of jumps," she said.

The Nutcracker ballet was performed Dec. 10-11 and Dec. 16-18 at the Children's Theatre of Annapolis at 1661 Bay Head Rd. Each year the dance performance is a collaborative effort with several dance studios in the area.

Blandford trains at L'Ecole de Danse in Annapolis where she has danced since she was a toddler.