After more than 125 performances in the beloved Christmas classic “The Nutcracker,” Archie is leaving the stage. The 19-year-old Yorkshire terrier performed for Festival Ballet Providence in Rhode Island annually for season after season. He is now heading into retirement.
The ballet announced that Archie had achieved stardom for faithfully filling his role on the Providence Performing Arts Center stage. He is now ready for a slower pace in the next chapter of his life.
Archie’s owner is the ballet’s artistic director, Misha Djuric (pronounced JUHR-itch). Djuric says Archie is “settling down to a life of luxury and long naps on pillows.”
The ballet hopes to replace Archie with a new “Nutcracker dog.” Auditions for the role will take place beginning on December 2. The ballet says it is looking for a pup with an elegant prance, a regal coat, and a “charming smile.”
It seems funny to think of an animal entering retirement—as if he was a person. But all creatures age and grow weary in this life. Leaving a vocation for a person doesn’t necessarily mean an end. It can be a new beginning with more opportunities to love others and serve God in various ways. The Psalmist asked God to remember him as he continues praising Him in his old age in Psalm 71: “My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent….So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.”
(This undated photo shows Archie, the Yorkshire terrier that has performed in more than 125 productions of “The Nutcracker” in Providence, Rhode Island. Photo from Festival Ballet Providence, via AP)
