Middletown Teen Ballerina Stars As Clara In 'The Nutcracker Rocks'

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A 16-year-old Middletown girl will be the understudy for the lead role of Clara this weekend in "The Nutracker Rocks," a rock ballet now showing at the Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater in Deal.

The Middletown teen is Lilakoi Grover. As the understudy, she will perform the lead role of Clara in the 1 p.m. show this Sunday, Dec. 11.

This is Grover's biggest professional dance performance to date. In all the other performances, she will be an Android.

Grover is a sophomore at the Middletown High School Arts Academy. The Arts Academy is a special offering from the Middletown school district for high school students from North or South who want to really focus on art, be it drama/theatre, dance or digital design/creative art.

Grove did not take her first ballet lesson until she was 10 years old (she had taken other dance classes), but she instantly fell in love with the classic art of ballet. She now practices five to seven days a week at the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy, the ballet space inside Bell Works in Holmdel. The public can stroll through Bell Works and see the ballerinas, such as Grover, inside practicing.

Axelrod first opened at Bell Works in 2020, and quickly rose to become known as one of the most prestigious and rigorous ballet studios on the Jersey Shore/Central Jersey. Gabriel Chajnik is the creative director at Axelrod ballet.

Grover said she is "so very thankful" Axelrod exists for ballerinas and aspiring ballerinas like herself.

"To be able to learn from, grow alongside and perform with Monmouth County's only professional ballet company, all while being guided and taught by Gabriel has been truly amazing," she said. "I love our studio space at Bell Works. It is so unique, having such a New York City/factory vibe, with its openness inviting people to stop for a moment and enjoy observing our classes and rehearsals."

"Axelrod is a great space, allowing a dancer to explore and grow in many ways," she said.

Many of the students at Middletown Arts Academy intend to continue their hobby into college or adulthood, and Grover is no different.

"I don't have much free time when factoring in my other activities and school, but I wouldn't want it any other way," said the teen. "I choose to dance this much simply because I love it. Dance is not just a hobby for me. It's a huge part of my life and part of how I define myself."

Axelrod Performing Arts Academy has put on ballets for the public to watch, and Grover previously danced as Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the lead role of Dorothy in "The Lost Princess of Oz."

"I stuck with it because I just loved it all: Gabriel’s training and influence, learning from and performing alongside the professional dancers and the happiness ballet brought to me was all so special," she said. "There is a feeling of freeness, of being able to be myself and to fully express myself through dance that is irreplaceable."

If you want to see Grover in Sunday's show at the Deal Performing Arts Center, you can buy tickets here: https://www.axelrodartscenter....

The show ends Sunday. Ticket prices range from $32 to $46, with student tickets available for $20.

"The Nutcracker Rocks" is a "rock ballet" conceived, choreographed and directed by Chajnik, who reinvents this holiday favorite with a high-octane, rock-and-roll Jersey Shore twist. The show also stars Josh Canfield, actor and former CBS "Survivor" contestant, as Clara’s eccentric rocker Uncle Drosselmeyer. Canfield has appeared on Broadway and Off-Broadway.

"The Nutcracker ROCKS" follows a bored teen Clara, who must endure her family’s posh holiday party on the Upper East Side until her eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer arrives. Uncle Drosselmeyer shakes things up when he transports Clara to a magical land — the Jersey Shore — where the traditional Land of Sweets is instead a candy shop in Asbury Park. The cast is comprised of Axelrod Ballet company members and students (ages 7+) from local dance studios in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

In addition to Chajnik, Olivia Miranda, Lindsay Jorgensen and Kathy Pearlberg also teach ballet at Axelrod in Bell Works.

See 'The Nutcracker Rocks' In Deal, A Rock Ballet Christmas Classic