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Renowned ballerina Christina Ghiardi returns home for a plum role in ‘Nutcracker’

MORGANTOWN - Christina Ghiardi laughed out loud when the guy (with the notebook) on the other end of the cellphone call asked what he asked.

"My feet," she said.

"Everybody wants to know about my feet. Well, I've got my share of callouses, I can tell you, but they aren't typical 'ballerina feet,' so I'm pretty lucky there."

That is, her toes aren't squished and misshapen by the daily rigors of what she does.

Her arches most definitely are not sloped and forlorn, like say, a dying swan.

"Nope, they're pretty much just feet. Nothing special."

Even if she does something special with them.

If she isn't in possession of typical ballerina feet, maybe that's because the dancer who is now known across the United States and across the pond for her performances and teaching ... isn't your typical ballerina.

After all, not every townie kid from Morgantown earns a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet in New York City at the age of 14.

Not every townie kid from Morgantown goes on to do all that educating and all that dancing in Boston - and then Slovakia, as she did with a recent association with the European School of Ballet.

Not every townie kid from Morgantown gets to be the principal dancer with the Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas, a role she's held for 10 seasons now.

DANCING, FAMILIAR

For Christina, however, it's always about the place that gave her that first inspiration.

She just turned 5 when her parents, Tom and Karen, enrolled her in classes at Morgantown Dance, the studio that's launched countless recitals over the years that are charming, endearing and lovable, even.

Hey, what's not to love about all that wobbling en pointe - dancing on your toes, literally - and that one kid (always that one kid) who ceases the Arabesque to mug for the crowd while saying hi to her nana in the fourth row?

Christina wasn't that particular kid.

She was the one all the dance moms watched.

The ones who said. "Wow," as she made the stage hers, light and airy as gossamer.

"When you were watching Christina, you knew you were seeing somebody with natural talent," said Liz Finklea, a longtime board member at Morgantown Dance.

"You knew you were watching somebody who could do something in dance, if she really wanted to, and was willing to put in the work."

Christina was full of want and will.

"My parents were so loving, and so unselfish," she said, looking back to when she left the mountains for Manhattan, barely into her teens.

"I can only imagine what they were feeling. Honestly, I was too young to be scared, I think. I just wanted to dance."

Dance, she did.

As she was making her name, though, she was maintaining, as said, hometown connections with Morgantown Dance.

She gets back every few months when her schedule allows to conduct workshops, and next week she's home again - for a star-turn with the storied company.

REUNIONS

Christina will dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the studio's annual production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," the Christmas classic.

This is Morgantown Dance's 30th anniversary of staging the timeless ballet, in fact.

Starring with her in the role of the Cavalier will be Sergio Alvarez, a fellow dancer from her Nevada troupe.

Performances are next Saturday and Sunday at The Metropolitan Theatre, with matinees included. Visit Morgantown Dance on social media for showtimes and ticket information.

"This one's exciting," she said.

In her first year of lessons there, the just-past toddler was cast as a toy soldier in the 1998 Morgantown Dance production of Tchaikovsky's work.

It was her first time on stage and in front of an audience.

"I loved it then, and I still love it."

"And Morgantown Dance is just 'home,' you know?" the ballerina continued.

"Liz Finklea's still there. Desiree Witt [the company's ballet curriculum administrator] who gave me my first lessons is still there."

A TALL ORDER

New faces will be there too, next week. Young dancers. Some, maybe, with the same dream.

"I always tell them to stay at it if they really want to do it. It's not easy."

Especially, she said, if you're dealing with something else that doesn't make you a typical ballerina: height.

Christina is 5-foot-11, or so. Which makes her 6-foot-4 (or so) when she's en pointe.

"It was tricky when I first started auditioning for companies. Some directors wouldn't even look at me because I was too tall."

Now she relishes digging into the roles with the solo dances, where she can showcase her frame and silhouette - such as the Sugar Plum Fairy or the Wicked Witch in the "Wizard of Oz" ballet adaption.

"The beauty of dance and the dance world is that it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from," she said. "You really can achieve your dreams."

DESSERT - IN THE DESERT

These days, being in Nevada, and Las Vegas, a city built on illusion, is a dream.

"I still can't believe I'm out here, actually getting paid to do this."

Which led to another question from that cellphone guy (with the notebook) who wondered about ballerina feet earlier: What do the people who live in Las Vegas ... actually do for fun in Las Vegas?

For one, she and her husband enjoy hiking in the mountains of the rugged state, completely away from the neon-sprawl.

There's a neat dichotomy there also that makes homelife interesting, Christina said.

As a football fanatic, her regular-guy husband trends more toward safety blitzes than the Sugar Plum Fairy - that's OK.

"It's that whole 'opposites attract' thing," she said, even if her spouse does occasionally worry about her turning an ankle on those trail sojourns.

When they do go out for an evening in town, they don't hit the roulette table - no sir.

They go to restaurants in the city that has them arrayed, from Michelin-rated to Mom and Pop, like casino chips at the end of a good night.

It's in those establishments, that she engages in a caloric-dance that never fails to leave her husband amazed.

Because when you're a (typical) ballerina, training and rehearsing eight hours a day, and then dancing in full-on performance, you can eat anything and everything - and not gain a pound.

"He'll just look at my plate and say, 'Where are you putting that?'"