Big hairy deal

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This article was published 18/12/2010 (5752 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young girls enter the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s professional division with dreams of flitting across the stage in dainty pointe shoes and ethereal tutus.

So Catherine Rutherford never imagined she’d be sweating inside a goofy bear costume with a head built over a sports helmet, interior hoops that support an ample belly, and bulky feet that disguise a pair of runners. Glamorous, it’s not.

But Filbert, the mischievous bear who sneaks into an elegant Wellington Crescent mansion during a 1913 Christmas party in RWB’s Nutcracker, is so loved by audiences that “he” consistently earns some of the loudest applause at show’s end.

Rutherford, 20, was chosen to portray the nutty-named Filbert in every performance last year, partly because she stands 5-foot-9 and it takes some height to wear the suit.

She proved to be a talented physical comedian when it came to stealing the Christmas pudding and other mimed funny business. So she’s been tapped again for the ursine assignment in Nutcracker‘s seven-performance run, Wednesday to Dec. 29.

“It’s all about timing, and she gets the timing,” says artistic director André Lewis.

“I feel very lucky to do it again,” says the brown-eyed, quick-to-smile dancer. “I try to put a lot of energy and playfulness into it.”

The Filbert costume worn onstage has a black mesh panel under the nose that allows the dancer to see. When Filbert mingles, gives high-fives and signs “pawtographs” in the Centennial Concert Hall lobby during pre-show and intermission, it’s actually a hired performer wearing a second version of the costume that’s heftier and hides the human face completely.

Rutherford entered the professional division at age 12. Unlike the many students who stay in residence, she’s a local who has been able to live at home in Island Lakes and Royalwood. In the 2006 documentary Ballet Girls, she was seen as a 15-year-old winning the coveted Nutcracker role of Clara.

She’s now one of about 12 aspirants — school graduates who take one or two years of further training, perform in corps roles with RWB, and apply to companies. “Our main goal is to find a job,” she says.

Her dream is to be offered a position with RWB when those decisions are made in February. But she’s planning a trip early in the new year to audition for companies in The Netherlands, Germany and France, as well as U.S. cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Salt Lake City. Her height limits her opportunities a bit, she says, but some troupes are open to hiring tall dancers.

One of Filbert’s most endearing moments comes when he’s alone and tries out a child’s Christmas-gift scooter. It’s harder than it looks because the costume affects balance, Rutherford says.

“The first time I ever wore the costume in the studio, I could not scooter. I kind of fell over. I had to practise, because your weight is so different.”

Don’t imagine that Rutherford gets to put her furry feet up after Filbert gets chased out of the house. She has to whip into the quick-change tent in the wings and don a mouse costume for the battle scene, then change super-quickly into a silver-and-white tutu to play a delicate snowflake. She’s back in Act II in the Waltz of the Flowers.

As long as she’s padded up with Filbert’s comical bulk, she finds backstage moments to entertain her fellow dancers with silly dance moves.

“A little shimmy action, a little disco, jazz hands…. Everything looks 10 times more funny when you’re in a giant bear costume,” she says.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Dance Preview

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker

Centennial Concert Hall

Dec. 22, 26 & 28 at 7 p.m.; December 23, 26, 27 & 29 at 2 p.m.

Tickets $24 to $96 at Ticketmaster or RWB box office, 956-2792