There are four Homer High School seniors participating in the 2024 Homer “Nutcracker” production: Sofia Loboy, Tiya Marushev, Natalia Sherwood and Isadora Ferreira.

They are the oldest of more than 60 youth performers in the production, who range from the youngest mice, street musicians, party scene children, rats and battle scene soldiers to various soloists, primary dancers in the “Snow” and “Flower” pieces and contributors to “Festival of Dancing Sweets” at the castle in Act 2.

There are also adults performing in the party scene. Additionally, youth of all ages contribute to production through prop and set construction, stage assistance and makeup.

Tiya Martushev

Martushev has been performing in “The Nutcracker” for eight years. This year she dances the primary role of Dream Clara, arriving onstage in the dream transition of the battle scene. She is onstage for all of the castle scene and performs in a trio with the Nutcracker, Lance Seneff, and the Castle Queen, Aria Palma. Prior to this year as Clara, she said one of her favorite roles has always been in the “Snow” scene.

The advice Martushev would like to share with younger dancers is the importance of being organized — not just onstage but during rehearsals in coordination with the entire corps dance group, especially when running the large group pieces like “Snow” or “Flower” without an adult monitor or choreographer.

The other feature that she noted as important to “The Nutcracker” is “using kind communication if a piece needsadditional rehearsal.” She suggested encouraging fellow dancers to go over parts together instead of just calling someone out on what they might not being doing correctly or need more work on.

“It’s important to your hardest and put your most into everything even if you’re scared to do something. And, if it’s your last year, it’s definitely the time to do that,” she said.

Sofia Loboy

Loboy has been performing for 13 years; she started onstage as a mouse. This is the role always offered to the youngest dancers; typically about age 5 or kindergarten. Loboy said mouse was her favorite part overall, noting the arm movements the mice used to do to mimic the hour hand of a clock going through the chimes to midnight.

Her advice to upcoming dancers is to “just have fun, even if you mess up.” She said it’s obviously important to give everything your best effort but that “really most of the audience probably won’t notice if you use the wrong hand or foot.”

“Don’t get too worried about, especially once the performances start and just have fun and brush off the mistakes.”

Natalia Sherwood

Sherwood has participated in “The Nutcracker” for about three years; this year her lead role is the Snow Queen. Her program statement notes that “she feels a mix of sadness and gratitude as this marks the end of a chapter for her as a senior.”

All of the seniors were able to provide program statements and Sherwood’s notes specifically the support of her parents and her father Jesse’s encouragement to stick with ballet because “as a senior she can’t imagine what life would have been like without dance.”

She said the pieces that have stood out to her the most include “Baklava” and the bird dance; both in Act 2.

Isadora Ferreira

Ferreira was not available at the time the other seniors were interviewed but her program statement notes that she is a Rotary exchange student from Belo Horizonte, Brazil and has enjoyed many first time events including a boat ride, seeing a moose, catching a king salmon, seeing the aurora and now adding dance with the Homer Nutcracker. She plays the role of the maid in the parlor scene in this year’s production. Ferreira will have her own story with the Homer News at some point in the spring semester before she returns home in July.

Artistic director of the production, Sally Oberstein, said that Ferreira wasn’t sure about joining the cast but was encouraged by guest choreographer Morgan Edminster. “She’s been thrilled to be a part of the show and loving our community,” Oberstein said.

Of the other seniors Oberstein also noted how much encouragement they provide to the other members of the cast, “they have a very positive attitude and help us run through the things we need in the green room,” she said.

“In general, I want to say that it’s been so easy, working with working with the seniors who have been in Nutcracker over the years, and they are, they are all so willing to to take direction and just work at what they need to. And, they’ve always been role models for the younger dancers,” Oberstein said.

Final shows

The last shows for the 2024 Nutcracker production will be on Friday Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday Dec. 14 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available online at https://www.homernutcrackerproductions.com/home. The first weekend of shows were almost sold out and audience are encouraged to purchase their tickets as soon as possible.