Little Red Riding Hood has always been a storybook character for Sammamish’s Natalie Rahn, but the 14-year-old ballerina is getting the opportunity to bring the fairytale to life this December.
The up and coming dancer won the red-hooded role in Ballet Bellevue’s winter production, The Sleeping Beauty, which intertwines a couple of dances from other fairytales.
For the teen, the performance started as another step in a lifetime of dance, but when her parents signed up to be extras on stage, it turned into a family activity.
Is it embarrassing to have her parents dress up as courtiers on stage? Just a little, she says, but she’s glad they’re involved.
Her father, Rick, has been working backstage since his daughter first started performing. It’s a unique perspective, he says. The dancers elegantly step off stage and instantly begin start huffing and puffing.
Likewise, Dorota, her mother, has been helping with some sewing, she says. “I guess when your child gets more serious, you get more serious, too.”
An Interlake High School student, Natalie got grandfathered into the Bellevue School District after participating in a French immersion program as a child.
When she’s not spending hours in dance classes and rehearsals, she’s usually up late finishing homework.
The form of a ballerina is so ingrained into her, she stands casually with a toe pointed out, as if she’s ready to dance. As she sat back in a sofa at her North Sammamish home, her toes are pointed as the rest on the carpet.
She’s been dancing on point for about two years. Most young ballerinas have to wait until their feet have grown to certain point, before doctors give the OK for point shoes.
Natalie plans to perform several roles in the Dec. 28-29 performances, but her biggest role is as red riding hood, who must act scared in the presence of a wolf.
Acting is a part of ballet, she says, “Because you have to make the audience feel what you feel.”
She’s previously performed with the ballet as Clara in the Nutcracker and in The Snowman.
The Sleeping Beaty, based on the 1697 Charles Perrault fairytale, tells the story of a beautiful princess who is cursed by an evil fairy and doomed to sleep for 100 years, only to be awakened by the kiss of a handsome prince who loves her. Tchaikovsky’s composition for this performance is often considered his finest ballet score. The show runs 7 p.m., Dec. 28-29 and 2 p.m., Dec. 29 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.
Tickets: Call 425-455-1345 or visit brownpapertickets.com. Prices are $40 for adults and $25 for students and seniors.
Natalie Rahn, CONTRIBUTED
