Stepping Out

Dreaming of sugar plums

Leggz Ltd. offers up a stylish version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker

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It couldn’t have been scripted any better. A local dance studio needs a young dancer for the role of Clara in its annual holiday production of “The Nutcracker.” A casting notice goes out to all the usual places and is posted on social media sites. Auditions are held. Then, before the final audition is scheduled to take place, the studio’s assistant director happens to see an episode of the hit reality TV series “Dance Moms” and is captivated by one of its young stars.
She reaches out to the young dancer’s family in Pittsburgh, Pa., not expecting to be contacted back. Sure enough, the “Dance Mom” calls the studio, and shows up with her daughter, Sarah Hunt, at the final audition the next day.
And that is how this budding star, familiar to fans of “Dance Moms”, ended up as Clara in Leggz Ltd.’s production of the holiday classic this weekend, Dec. 19-21, in Rockville Centre.
“This was totally unexpected and I never thought something like this was going to happen,” says Joan MacNaughton, artistic director of “The Nutcracker” and founder of the Leggz Ltd. Dance studio. “We look at it as serendipity and are so excited about our production. It’s even more special this year since we are going to be at the gorgeous new Madison Theatre.”
McNaughton, who runs Leggz with the assistance of her daughter, Sam Carrell, has been bringing her holiday “Nutcracker” — in conjunction with the Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts —to the community for 20 years now.
In its 18th year with the Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts and, with music by the South Shore Symphony Orchestra, the Leggz production has evolved into an acclaimed performance of the holiday classic that is eagerly awaited by audiences each year.
This season, with its move from the South Side High School stage to the Madison Theatre, on the campus of Molloy College, McNaughton wanted to take her production and her studio to the next level — to create a production that was even bigger and more dazzling then in years past.

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