Breakthrough casting in Charlotte Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’

EXULTING IMAGES

Elyn Jenkins, 13, earned the opening-day casting of Clara in Charlotte Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.”

Charlotte Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” will have a different feel this year.

The Christmas classic will feature a dancer rarely seen on the stage. Elyn Jenkins, 13, has been cast as Clara, making her one of the few Afro-Latinas to play the main character. She is also the youngest of three Claras cast.

“I feel like I’m just so excited and ecstatic to be able to show the little girls what they can and just like all the little girls who look like me as well,” she said.

Not only did Elyn earn the main role, she’ll play it on opening night. “There are many shows, I want to say there are about 20 or so of ‘The Nutcracker,’” said her mom Cindy Mercado Jenkins. “There are three Claras. Elyn is the only minority Clara.

“The other Claras will divide the show evenly with Elyn, so there are two different casts. A mom of one of the professionals called to congratulate Elyn and I and it was just me on the phone. She said ‘congratulations. I heard she got opening night,’ and I said ‘Oh, thank you! Is that a good thing?’ And she said, ‘Oh my goodness, yes! It’s a great honor to get opening night.’”  

Elyn, the daughter of a Puerto Rican mom and Black dad, started dancing as a 5-year-old when a teacher at Charlotte Ballet who moved into her neighborhood stumbled upon her potential.

“We just had her over for some coffee and they were talking,” Elyn recalled, “and she saw me strolling around the house and she asked my mom if she could see me do a couple of moves. And then [my mom] was like, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ So she asked me to do a couple of things and I did them, and she told my mom ‘Your daughter needs to be in ballet. She definitely has the potential to go really far.’ And my mom was like, ‘OK.’ So, they put me in ballet classes and here I am now.”  

“The Nutcracker” was one production Elyn wanted to be a part of for a long time.  

“She was hoping to be in the Nutcracker during COVID,” Cindy said. “She was finally of age to be able to audition, and they implemented the rule of having to be vaccinated. Well, at that time, the vaccinations were not available for anyone under 12, and Elyn was not yet 12. She was 11 years old.  

“So the first year she was going to be eligible to audition for ‘The Nutcracker,’ covid came and she was not able to audition, so her dad took her to see ‘The Nutcracker’ in the audience and even came home with an ornament that her dad bought her there, and she was so inspired. She put on some ballet shoes and just started dancing.”  

Elyn said watching others in the role she desired motivated her to try again. What she enjoys about ‘The Nutcracker” is the energy of dance. “I think the joy of it all is the same and so much fun and so energetic and everything just so big,” she said. “There's so many big gestures and stuff, and I think that definitely goes with my personality quite a bit.”  

In her years dancing ballet, Elyn has practiced tirelessly to practice her craft and even had a supporting role in last year’s production.  “I was friends and Candy Cane,” she said. “So, friends are the big party scene, Clara is there, and she has her friends who dance around her. I was one of those friends and I was Candy Cane as well.”  

Aside from balancing her studies and extracurricular activities, Elyn also has acting and modeling in her resume.

“She’s done things,” said Jaime Jenkins, Elyn’s father. “Nickelodeon, Disney, things of that nature. Her acting skills have been out there.”  

Said Cindy: “She’s an incredible dancer. I think she blends both her acting skills and her dancing skills, so when she dances, all of what she’s been able to do in acting kind of comes to her dancing as well, which is incredible.”  

With this opportunity, Elyn said she hopes to inspire others who look like her.

“It’s harder to be able to make your way through that little barrier when you have different colored skin,” she said. “There are so many little girls who are coming up and they look like me and I see them, and they watch me and they're just mesmerized and they're like, ‘Wow.’  

“I just want to be able to show them that even though they don’t look the same as what is portrayed to be a prima ballerina with pink ties and white skin, you can still be very beautiful and elegant and you can have just as much talent.”     

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