The Nutcracker ballet is one of the most beloved holiday traditions, taking audiences on a magical journey with a young girl named Clara and her Christmas gift: a Nutcracker. Together, they travel from her family’s Christmas Eve party to a battle with evil rodents, an enchanted snowy forest, before finally arriving at the Land of Sweets. This fantastical story about the majesty of the holiday season delights people of all ages, and the Corpus Christi Ballet’s annual performance of The Nutcracker has brought Christmas magic to the Coastal Bend community since 1974.
Several W.B. Ray students have performed with the Corpus Christi ballet in their production of The Nutcracker, and in the past two years alone, two students have had the honor of playing the role of Clara. This role is particularly special because The Nutcracker follows Clara’s journey, and only four girls are selected to play this character each year, with each being chosen only once.
This year, three of the four Claras in the Corpus Christi Ballet’s Nutcracker will be from Ray. Freshmen Kenedy James and Jaiya Bindingnavele, along with sophomore Annabelle Taylor, were all cast for this role in the 2025 production.
On December 13th, the show will open with Kenedy James as Clara. Kennedy started ballet “off and on” when she was around three to five years old, and said that she got serious with dance “when [she] was about eight.” She said that her inspiration to pursue ballet came after seeing The Nutcracker for the first time. “I really liked it,” she recalled. As an older dancer, Kenedy enjoys that dance gives her the ability to act and play characters. “I really like performing in shows and getting to act as a character,” she said, and playing Clara this year will give her even more opportunity to do so.
Annabelle Taylor will perform as Clara for the first matinee show on the following Sunday, December 14th. Annabelle started dancing later than most, beginning at about 11 years old. Her interest in ballet was sparked during quarantine, when she was “really bored” and started watching ballet videos and “was like, this looks pretty fun.” When she was cast as Clara, Annabelle was thrilled. “I was really excited and I was so happy that I was able to get it with all my friends, it was a really exciting moment,” she said. She is “most excited to do snow scene, because I have always wanted to do it.” Annabelle has really enjoyed the rehearsal process so far and is looking forward to the performance.
Jaiya Bindingnavale will take the stage as Clara in the final performance on December 21st. She started dancing at around three years old, and like Kennedy, “really liked watching The Nutcracker” when she was younger. Now, Jaiya appreciates ballet for the way it lets her express herself. Jaiya explained how she enjoys working as a team to learn choreography, saying that “It’s been really fun, and I like how when we have a free moment, we go over things.” She has learned a lot and had a good time throughout the rehearsal process.
Balancing school and dance is no easy feat, especially for these three students, who are all enrolled in the challenging International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Annabelle, who is juggling homework and rehearsals, said she tries to manage her time wisely. “I am very busy, and I study a lot, but I just make sure at the end of the day that I have everything done,” she said. Jaiya said that she “[stays] up really late a lot of the time doing homework”, sacrificing her time at night after dance to get all her work done. Kennedy’s strategy, she said, is to “try to do as much work as I can in class.” Now, as Clara, all three girls agreed that it has been a lot harder to keep the balance. However, each of them are continuing to work hard on both dance and school.
If you are a Ray student, seeing the Corpus Christi Ballet’s Nutcracker this year would be a wonderful opportunity to see the amazing talent of our students. Whether it is to see Annabelle, Jaiya, Kennedy, or another dancer, it is a magical holiday experience you will not want to miss!
