When you’ve danced in The Nutcracker 25 years in a row, most people would think it is soon time to hang up the pointe shoes. But that’s not the case with Katie Farwell, whose first role in Maine State Ballet’s annual holiday production came when she was only four years old.

“The first part I ever did isn’t even a part anymore,” Farwell said with a slight laugh. “It was in the Arabian scene, there were little birds and I was one of the birds. We had little fans and we came in fanned the dancer and then ran off.”

These days, the 29-year-old dancer is on stage for much longer stretches and over the years has danced an array of featured roles in The Nutcracker including Arabian, Chinese, Marzipan Shepherdess (or Reed Flutes) and Dew Drop.

Linda MacArthur Miele, Artistic Director of the Maine State Ballet has literally watched Farwell grow up as a dancer and says that even from a very young age, Farwell always stood out.

“Katie always had a little head tilt or something different that makes you notice her,” said Miele. “She is versatile and she can do a lot of different roles, but there is always something ‘Katie’ about them. She is a personality and I like that about her.”

Miele notes that while there are many dance companies that want all the dancers to look exactly the same, Katie Farwell has “never looked exactly the same.” And for Miele that’s a very good thing. Miele also points out that in addition to Farwell’s technical ability, it is her keen ear for music that allows her to take a role that has been danced by others before and make it distinctly her own.

“Katie brings something to a role that may be flat with a different dancer,” Miele noted. “But if you give it to Katie she will make something out of it that I may not even realize is there. She is unique in that way.”

When asked what role in The Nutcracker she most likes to see Farwell dance, Miele says, without hesitation, Reed Flutes, one of three dances Maine State Ballet licenses for The Nutcracker from the George Balanchine Trust. “ I like to see her dance Reed flutes, partly because it is Balanchine’s ballet. It is almost pizzicata, it is so musically correct and she is so on top of it, so accurate,” said Miele. “And yet, because she stylizes it, I think if I was George Balanchine I would say: ‘that’is what I meant when I did that part, I imagined it to look just like that.’”

For Farwell, her favorite in The Nutcracker is Arabian, a role some attending this year’s performances will get to see first hand in addition to her Reed Flutes solo, as Dew Drop and as a demi-soloist in Flowers.“

photo credit: Katie Farwell in Nutcracker- C.C. Church Photography

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