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Away for the holidays
| Source: |
National Post |
| Date: |
December 4, 2007 |
| Author: |
Sarah B. Hood |
Exhausted parents can keep kids busy during the Christmas season by
taking them to shows such as The Nutcracker or a Ross Petty
pantomime. But what if you're the one onstage? Here's how some of
Toronto's performing families cope.
DEBORAH LUNDMARK & MICHAEL DECONINCK SMITH
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Canadian Children's Dance
Theatre's production, Wintersong. When it's over, company founders
Deborah Lundmark and Michael deConinck Smith will travel with their
children, Britta, 24, and Erik, 22, to the family farm, as they have
done for 26 years.
"Every Christmas we travel 2,000 miles to Saskatoon and another 100
miles to our small town, and then we set up for Christmas again," says
Lundmark. "It's hard to get Christmas trees in Saskatchewan, and every
single year Michael's father, who is 96, goes to the Co-op, where you
can get your tree for 10 bucks, and brings it to the farm before we
get there."
In two days, the empty farmhouse is made ready for family
festivities. "It's crazy, but you know what? We haven't missed a
year," says Lundmark. "It's very special because it's -40, and it
makes the fireplace and the food much more inviting. It's a time when
we all can sit together in the living room without television and
computers. We listen to each other, and we talk about our wishes and
dreams and hopes for each other, and that's the most important
time."
TED DYKSTRA & MELANIE DOANE
Actor and director Ted Dykstra and singer-songwriter Melanie Doane
have a son, six-year-old Theo, and a daughter, four-year-old
Rosie. "It's a bit of a tag-team effort and we try to arrange it so
that we're never both working over Christmas," says Dykstra.
"Last year was really hard; I was in Winnipeg doing The Rocky Horror
Show, and I could only come home for three days, so Melanie had all
the stress. And this year is almost the exact opposite; I'll be here
rehearsing Salt-Water Moon [with Soulpepper Theatre], but Melanie will
be performing on the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train."
Beginning today and continuing to Dec. 19, Doane is living and
performing on the train, which travels across Canada to raise food and
awareness of local food banks. To make her absence easier on the
family, Dykstra is driving with their children to meet the train in
Smiths Falls; they'll travel together to Toronto, where the train
stops for a show in the Distillery District on Dec. 3. Then Doane
continues to Vancouver.
"The thing that we've learned is that every year is different," Doane
says. "This year, the kids will have special time with Dad."
Surviving, says Dykstra, is "a question of having the ability of -- no
matter how in the thick of it you are with your work -- being able to
say, 'In these three days, nothing else matters.' "
KAREN KAIN & ROSS PETTY
National Ballet artistic director Karen Kain is married to producer
and performer Ross Petty; both have a long history of holiday
appearances. Every year, Petty plays the comic villain in his
Christmas pantomime (he's Captain Hook in this year's Peter Pan). In
some years, Kain has even performed in both The Nutcracker and Petty's
show. Nonetheless, the couple usually invites their extensive family
for a complete Christmas dinner.
"One always does try to do the turkey, but it's never done in the
right amount of time and you have to throw it in for another hour or
so; I think we share that with many families. Sometimes we get
pre-stuffed Cornish hens to throw in the oven. That's always our
fallback position, and I think that may be what we're going to do this
year," says Petty.
"I bow out very quickly after dinner; it's our only chance to recoup
before we do two shows on Boxing Day," he says. "It's a difficult time
as a family; however, a great time for me to be entertaining other
people's families. I think that is my tradition."
KURT BROWNING & SONIA RODRIGUEZ
Champion figure skater Kurt Browning and National Ballet ballerina
Sonia Rodriguez have a newborn son, Dillon, and four-year-old,
Gabriel. Between the demands of the skating world, and the fact that
Rodriguez has often been on call for the annual Nutcracker, they've
never really had a quiet family holiday. "I've sometimes had a show on
the 24th and then had all the relatives come over for dinner," says
Rodriguez.
Even when Browning was young, holidays were hard to come by. "As a
skater, we always had a big competition coming up in January, so I'd
drive back to the farm for Christmas Day, knowing that 5 a.m. on
Boxing Day I'd have to leave for three and a half months. That really
sucked," says Browning.
Although he's starring as Peter Pan at the Elgin Theatre right through
the holiday season, Browning says this may be one of their more
relaxing years. "Even though I'm working, I'm coming back to the house
every night. And Sonia is not doing The Nutcracker this year, so this
could be a really great Christmas."
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