A 16-year-old Naperville ballet dancer will be following in her mother’s dance steps when she takes the stage in Chicago this weekend. Tatiana Chen is the daughter of professional ballerina Anna Spelman and she’s delighted to have a key role in an unusual take on “The Nutcracker.”
A&A Ballet’s “Art Deco Nutcracker” is set in the 1920s. Vibrant costumes and new choreography by Alexei Kremnev offer an innovative approach to the beloved story featuring Tchaikovsky’s well-known score.
“‘The Nutcracker’ is one of my favorites because of the nostalgic energy,” Tatiana said. “There are a lot of productions but ours is different because of the neoclassical look. Our cast, excluding those who play the children in the story, range from 13 to 21.”
Another difference is the diversity A&A Ballet Chicago Center for Dance tries to bring to their productions. They prioritize offering opportunities to dancers of all backgrounds from around the world.
“My mom is white and I am half-Chinese, half-white,” said Tatiana, whose father is from Fujian, China. “My mom surrounded me with European ballet so the dancers didn’t look like me.
“In 2023 it’s a lot easier to find other dancers with different backgrounds. In our production we have a Persian dancer and we also have an African American. We all get on well. I believe in the past there was typecasting, but now it’s much more free.”
Spelman, who spent 10 years with American Ballet Theatre in New York, now teaches with the Salt Creek Ballet in Westmont.
“Art is in (Tatiana’s) genes from my side of the family,” Spelman said. “I can tell her till I’m blue in the face that it’s a dead-end career and you have to have tunnel vision. … You really have to want to do it because there are so few jobs.”
Spelman’s time with American Ballet Theatre included a role in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of “The Nutcracker” and tours that took her around the U.S, France, Italy, Japan and Israel.
She’s also appeared in film and on TV, even dancing with Baryshnikov in “The Woman in White” in David Gordon’s ballet, “Murder.”
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“I think I got parts because I’m a strawberry blonde,” she said. “In a 10-year period, I could count on one hand how many non-white dancers there were. … I think it’s wonderful to see more of the audience on stage who can relate. We must still have ballet in the future. I think America is always cutting corners in art but it should be a part of our culture. Seeing live ballet in the theater is so different.”
Tatiana, whose twin sister Ariana is more interested in track than ballet, is schooled online so she can devote as much time as possible to dancing. Ariana attends Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora.
“I study ballet six days a week, 9:30 to 2:30, plus 30 minutes of private lessons a day,” Tatiana said. “On Saturdays we rehearse for three and a half hours.
“As for a career, my mom retired at 35. A lot of dancers go on until 45 but it can be earlier. I’ve thought about teaching like my mom. I’ll have to see where my career takes me. … Ballet is my whole world. I’m looking forward to performing, especially the pas de deux because that piece of music is my favorite.”
Her dream role, she said, would be Juliet in Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
“I really like her character because she’s more youthful and I love the balcony scene,” she said.
Although Tatiana and her mother are both dancers, they have different strengths.
“She’s quite a different dancer than I was,” Spelman said. “She has flexibility. I was more a turner and jumper. She has things I didn’t have. (Now that she’s with A&A), they are taking care of her very well.”
Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007.