The holidays have always been a busy time for 11-year-old Willa Wensel’s family.
With two parents in the US Army Band, the family juggles rehearsals during the day, performances at night, and additional events, sometimes at the White House or the vice president’s residence. And this year, there’s a twist: Willa and her father will share the stage.
“I think the kids get used to me saying, ‘All right, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’ Or occasionally, now that everybody’s getting a little bit older, ‘I’ll see you, I’ll see you when I get home,’” Master Sgt. Benjamin Wensel, 46, said Thursday from the lobby of the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, where he and Willa are slated to perform this weekend in the US Army Band’s American Holiday Festival.
“But … performing and being down here this weekend, too. It’s really neat. To have kids who also can relate to the performance schedule, because … this time, we get to be in the same place.”
This year’s show, which has been held in Washington, for more than 60 years, began Friday and runs through the weekend. It includes variations from “The Nutcracker,” during which Willa will perform the ballet’s fast-paced, traditional Trepak number, also known as the Russian dance. Just feet away, her father, a cellist in the Army Band’s US Army Strings for nearly two decades, will help to provide the music.
At Thursday’s dress rehearsal, Willa kicked and jumped on stage, balancing a traditional Russian headpiece – a gold kokoshnik – on her head while her white dress and blue apron swayed in time with the music. Her father, a seasoned performer who has grown accustomed to pre-show anxiety, found himself more distracted than usual.
“I was a little nervous, honestly, going through it right now, because I kept…
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