Nine-year-old ballerina’s dream comes true in Nutcracker production

By Kilee Thomas

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — For as long as a 9-year-old girl from Oklahoma could remember, she always loved ballet.

“My lifelong dream has been to be in the Nutcracker,” said Olivia Francis.

But a year after she put on her ballet slippers, a rare diagnosis would make that dream harder to reach.

“It’s called Friedreich’s ataxia. It affects about 15,000 people nationwide,” said Olivia’s mom, Mary Francis.

It is a neurological disease that impacts a person’s ability to walk. Olivia’s mom said most who are diagnosed with it are dependent on a wheelchair or walker after about five years.

With no cure for the terminal disease, Olivia’s mom wanted to make her daughter’s dreams come true. She reached out to the Oklahoma City Ballet to see if it could help.

“We couldn’t wait to include her in our production,” said Racheal Nye, the school director for the Oklahoma City Ballet.

Olivia said she cried when she found out she would be participating in the Nutcracker.

She will grace the stage in a vintage wheelchair every night of the performance, alongside her fellow ballerinas.

Olivia will play the role of a girl named Marie, a part that was created just for her. The Oklahoma City Ballet said the role is hers as long as she wants it.

“When it’s Olivia’s turn to dance, everyone just has their eyes on her,” Nye said. “It’s really something to see her on stage. It’s inspired everyone around her”

The opening night for the Nutcracker is Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Civic Center. Tickets to the show can be found here.

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