\n<\/p>\n
The pressure was on. India Bradley, making her debut as Dewdrop in \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d exited the stage after her first entrance and knew that something had to shift. The spotlight was brighter than she had imagined. She couldn\u2019t see a thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, get it together,\u201d Bradley, 25, said in an interview at Lincoln Center. \u201cOpen your eyes. Open your shoulders. And don\u2019t do weird stuff. I swear it was Mr. Mitchell. It felt like Mr. Mitchell was screaming at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur Mitchell, the first Black principal of New York City Ballet who went on to be a founder of Dance Theater of Harlem, was in her head \u2014 and that was a good thing. Bradley was a first, too: the first Black Dewdrop, and she had four more entrances to go. Dewdrop, who leads the Waltz of the Flowers, has five entrances altogether \u2014 short bursts of ravishing, effervescent dancing, with turns and jumps that appear and disappear as quickly as a dew falling from a petal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Bradley, a member of City Ballet\u2019s corps de ballet, got it together for her debut on Dec. 10. \u201cI was like, you cannot go back out here and be a wreck,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a very important performance, unfortunately.\u201d That is, she clarified, \u201cI wish it weren\u2019t such a big deal. It\u2019s a blessing that this is happening, and this is going to feel so good for the girls who do it after me with 50 percent less pressure. But for me, this feels like a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
She got control of her nerves and was triumphant. (She is scheduled to reprise the role on Saturday and Tuesday.) But Bradley wasn\u2019t the only Black dancer to get a shot at Dewdrop. As part of City Ballet\u2019s 75th anniversary season, Alexandra Hutchinson, a member of Dance Theater of Harlem, performed the role twice as a guest artist last week.<\/p>\n
While Bradley was coached by the repertory director Christine Redpath, Hutchinson, 28, learned the role from Kyra Nichols, a former City Ballet principal who staged the Balanchine ballet \u201cPas de Dix\u201d at Dance Theater this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like she\u2019s the golden standard,\u201d Hutchinson said of Nichols.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>She is <\/a>the<\/em><\/a> Dewdrop<\/a>,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n Wendy Whelan, City Ballet\u2019s associate artistic director, had been talking about guests with Jonathan Stafford, the company\u2019s artistic director, and she had a vision: To honor Mitchell and the tie between the companies, they needed to have a woman from Dance Theater lead \u201cThe Nutcracker\u201d in this anniversary year. Whelan said, \u201cHe was like, \u2018Yeah. Let\u2019s do it!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Robert Garland, Dance Theater\u2019s artistic director, who chose Hutchinson said, \u201cThe thing Mr. Mitchell said was, \u2018Robert, there\u2019s a moment when words will not work anymore,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018You have to see it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Hopefully, another first, a Black Sugarplum Fairy, will follow in the not so distant future. For now, these fresh Dewdrops \u2014 filling the theater with cheering crowds \u2014 gave \u201cThe Nutcracker\u201d a jolt of energy and, most important, sparkling dancing: Bradley was like a sleek sprite cutting through a field of flowers; Hutchinson was all warmth and verve.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is studying,\u201d Hutchinson said, \u201cand there\u2019s paying homage and knowing your history and knowing who\u2019s done it before you and wanting to do the Balanchine technique correctly and all that. But then there\u2019s also, What am I bringing to it?\u201d<\/p>\n Both are excited to have expanded the idea of what a Dewdrop can be. \u201cLike the Dewdrop should be pink,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cReally<\/em>? A Dewdrop is a drop of dew. So can\u2019t anyone do it?\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this week, they met to speak of their shared, history-making experience. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What was the mental challenge of being the first Black dancer to dance Dewdrop at City Ballet \u2014 but also being in such a featured role?<\/strong><\/p>\n INDIA BRADLEY <\/strong>My mind never stopped racing. It was racing so much that I had to stick to thinking about only a handful of things. One thought that I forced myself to push forward was \u201cdance well.\u201d People kept saying, \u201cJust have fun.\u201d I stopped saying that to myself because there was so much of a different pressure than the other girls that debut Dewdrop at New York City Ballet. There\u2019s so much weight to carry.<\/p>\n ALEXANDRA HUTCHINSON <\/strong>I try to treat every time like I\u2019ve been here before. Yes, it\u2019s a bigger stage and a broader opportunity. I was just thinking about every moment, one step at a time. I\u2019m not going to think about the next entrance. And then when I get there, I\u2019ll deal with it. It\u2019s so much to carry.<\/p>\n I love what you said about the \u201cfun\u201d part \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n BRADLEY <\/strong>Just have fun! And hearing it from a white girl, it was just like \u2014 it wasn\u2019t their fault at all. They are trying to tell you what is best for them<\/em> to hear. It\u2019s your friends. It comes from love. And so I just accepted it, and I would go, Mmm hmm. But I was like, this isn\u2019t fun. It was fun when I did it, when I checked off all the boxes. But I wouldn\u2019t use the word fun<\/em> for all this pressure.<\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>Exactly. I think that savoring every moment helped me one step at a time. Like feeling my fingertips. Shoulders back and keep that perfume, leave a scent behind you.<\/p>\n Did you hear Mr. Michell’s voice, too?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hutchinson <\/strong>Yeah. Just imagine the pressure he<\/em> had.<\/p>\n What did Kyra Nichols emphasize to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>The tempo that she danced it at was insane. It was so fast. When I watched the video, the port de bras \u2014 the way that she moved her arms \u2014 was something that stuck with me. And the precision of her legs. Those contrasting energies pushed me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And, India, how was it working with Christine Redpath?<\/strong><\/p>\n BRADLEY <\/strong>Christine has the most peaceful long-gray-haired wise energy to her. At our first few rehearsals, she was like: \u201cYou are already capable of all these steps. The technique is there, the steps you can do.\u201d She kept calling it a process and was like, \u201cThroughout this process, we\u2019re never, ever going to freak out, talk down to ourselves, doubt ourselves \u2014 any of the unnecessary things.\u201d<\/p>\n Wow.<\/strong><\/p>\n BRADLEY<\/strong> She was like, we\u2019re just stripping away things that you no longer need and adding things that could make you look like a wiser dancer.<\/p>\n Alexandra, what advice did you get?<\/strong><\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>One of my friends actually told me to picture myself in the wings \u2014 what would that feel like, what would the lights feel like? And to see that in the studio. I swear that was one of the best things that helped me.<\/p>\n What did it feel like after your performances?<\/strong><\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>I cried when I came offstage after the second one. It was freeing to have that second try at it and to not think about the pressure this time \u2014 to know what it felt like with the lights and that warmth, which I felt was like a hug the second time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n BRADLEY <\/strong>I\u2019m going to take that from you. I\u2019ve only had one show so far, so all I\u2019ve experienced is the frightening one.<\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>We work so hard to get to this point in our life where we\u2019re doing roles that we\u2019ve dreamed of. And I don\u2019t want to look back and think I let the pressure or the stress dim the time that I want to enjoy. It\u2019s so crazy all the blood and sweat and tears that we put into it. And then it\u2019s like six minutes? (Laughs).<\/p>\n BRADLEY <\/strong>I know. I\u2019m always so upset afterward when I\u2019m like, Did I even have a good time? Somebody told me that I came offstage after the third entrance and I was just like this: thumbs up in the air. I don\u2019t even remember doing that. Before I was even done, I was like, I made it!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dewdrop is a coveted role around here. How welcome did you feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>I was nervous coming because there\u2019s so many people in this company. My company is very small. There\u2019s only 17 of us right now. So it was a big change. People would come up to me during class saying how excited they were about me being here. I felt very welcome. It was good vibes all around.<\/p>\n India, do we believe it?<\/strong><\/p>\n BRADLEY <\/strong>Yeah! I think City Ballet is a different place than it [used to be]. You know, I don\u2019t think you would have had the same experience [20 years ago] to be honest. I don\u2019t think I<\/em> would have had the same experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Right because neither of you would have danced Dewdrop at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n HUTCHINSON <\/strong>Even backstage, there was so much love. People held my hands and were like, \u201cI want you to do well, I\u2019m rooting for you.\u201d Getting that from the dancers was something that I was not expecting and really helped me because they\u2019re right beside you. You\u2019re sharing the stage, you\u2019re sharing the space and giving yourself. Having them being on my side was just like all the energy I needed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n