The Long Road to Cavalier

While dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier and others during this year’s production of “The Nutcracker,” one young dancer will be using lessons gleaned on stages from Wichita to Broadway to Kansas City and back again. Tim Cao, at the age of 19, has built a flourishing career as a dancer, performer and instructor — and he’s already planning his second act.

A Wichita native, Tim’s mother enrolled him in dance lessons at a young age on the advice of a doctor who recommended some kind of musical pursuit for the young boy, who had weakened hearing. It wasn’t long before Tim was performing with Musical Theatre for Young People and then Music Theatre Wichita, where he played Prince Chulalongkorn in “The King and I.”

Tim’s mother, Orelle Cao, set her sights on Hollywood, and the two traveled to California every summer during pilot season trying to land a TV role for the budding performer. After a couple of years with no nibbles, Orelle looked to the opposite coast, New York City and the bright lights of Broadway. At age 12, after multiple auditions, Tim was informed that he’d landed a role in “Matilda the Musical.”

“At the time I was probably playing, like, Clash of Clans on my phone,” Tim says. “My mom was talking on the phone and she said, ‘you just landed a Broadway gig!’ We had packed three days worth of clothes and those three days turned into two to three years.”

Tim was cast in a “swing” position where a performer covers multiple roles as needed, in his case Bruce Bogtrotter and Tommy, Bruce’s best friend. Later he added Nigel to his repertoire of characters.

In between Broadway performances, Tim took dance lessons at American Ballet Theatre (ABT), and there the passion for dance started to build. Eventually the family sought out dance instructors in the Midwest who were certified through ABT. Kansas City Ballet fit the bill, and that’s how David Justin, currently artistic director with Ballet Wichita, became Tim’s teacher and mentor. 

In 2020, Tim was a senior in high school and in his training year with Kansas City Ballet when Covid brought down the curtain on the performing arts. He took the opportunity to return to his hometown and enrolled at WSU, while eventually performing and teaching with Ballet Wichita. Tim is looking forward to earning a degree in finance and real estate, and next semester he’s going for his real estate license. He plans to work in his family’s businesses, T & T Heating And Air and T & T Home in Goddard.

“I'd like to know more about it so I can support what my family has built, with my dad being an immigrant,” he says. “I have a huge respect for what they've done for me and supporting me.”

In this year’s production Tim is playing the butler, Drosselmeyer’s nephew/Nutcracker Prince, and a Russian dancer, in addition to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier.

“My personal favorite part about this year's “Nutcracker” is our strength in male dancers. It is always great to jump and do tricks with fellow male dancers, and I believe it is something that is rare to see.”

Tim’s especially grateful to be performing at all, after a soccer tackle last year left him with a torn ACL. The first person Tim called after receiving the news was David Justin. “And he was really supportive; he had dealt with knee issues as well.”

At the age of 19, Tim has accumulated a wealth of wisdom to share with his students at Ballet Wichita: “I slowly realized that dance had prepared me to want to perfect everything. But I still need to work on what dance truly teaches people — to be able to let things go, so you can take on more things. And I think that's what performing has taught me, being able to just keep going and be a little more humble.”