Last night a group of volunteers spent a couple of hours transforming Lucy and Fritz Jewett Studio from a ballet practice space into . . . Club Nut.
Outside in the hallway, a cluster of pale blue-leotarded girls peeked in. “I’m in Club Nut! Are you?”
Today when our youngest cast members leave the Opera House after the matinee, they will be walked across the street to the ballet building and taken to Lucy and Fritz Jewett Studio. They’ll enter a huge room decorated with light-trimmed pine garlands wound around all the barres, two tables piled high with supplies for the day’s craft project, and a long buffet table where lunch will soon be served.
Welcome to Club Nut!
SF Ballet School students are a crucial resource for SF Ballet's Nutcracker! (© Erik Tomasson)
Club Nut is a service provided to the families of the student dancers, organized and staffed by ballet school parents and BRAVO volunteers. It is a safe and fun place for the children to rest, eat and play between their appearances in the matinee and evening performances of Nutcracker. For most of the children it is also a highlight of their holiday season!
San Francisco Ballet Students work on gift bags at Club Nut in December 2006. San Francisco Chronicle photo by Kat Wade
Imagine a huge, bright and warm room filled with 50 of your friends. In it are stacks of board games, friendly parents helping you do a craft project, a movie to watch, and a hot lunch. There’s a large, carpeted area where you can play, lounge and stretch with your cast-mates. Today’s menu is chicken-fried rice, macaroni and cheese, salad and fruit and upcoming meals will include spaghetti and pizza. For crafts, we’ll be decorating holiday stockings, and making lavender sachets, beaded ornaments, and quilled-paper cards.
Welcome to Club Nut!
(View a video about Club Nut made by the San Francisco Chronicle in December 2006.)
One Comment
Sounds like fun! I would have gotten such a kick out of that as a child!