Appreciating Variations in the Nutcracker Ballet

December is the season of Nutcracker ballets!

Have you ever wondered why the Nutcracker doll turns into the prince in the first place?

London's Royal Ballet's production (a video of which you can see online) starts with a summary explanation before each act on the youtube version that helps contextualize the Nutcracker story as it is usually performed in a ballet, as opposed to the original book story by E.T.A. Hoffman:

Drosselmeyer, a magician and maker of mechanical dolls, once invented a mousetrap that killed off half the mice that once lived in a royal palace.  In revenge, the Queen of the Mice transformed Drossolmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter, into an ugly Nutcracker doll.  Only by killing the Mouse King and being loved by a young girl can he be released from the spell.  Drosselmeyer, invited by the Stahlbaums to their party, takes the Nutcracker as a present for their daughter, Clara.  Clara falls in love with her new doll.  After the party, Clara creeps downstairs to see her Nutcracker, but Drosselmeyer is waiting for her.  He transforms the room into a battlefield and the toy soldiers, led by the Nutcracker, fights with the mice.  With Clara's help, the Mouse King is killed by the Nutcracker who is turned back into Hans-Peter.  Drosselmeyer sends them both on a journey through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets.

In Act Two, Clara and Hans-Peter meets the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince.  Hans-Peter tells of his adventure and how Clara saved his life.  They joined in the fabulous entertainment organized in their honour by Drosselmeyer.  In this version, as in most professional productions, Clara and Hans-Peter dances throughout the performance.

Read more about the history of the Nutcracker (including a video history) here: http://reflectionsinverse.blogspot.com/2010/11/from-story-to-ballet-interesting.html

For more technical info on the thematic structure of  Nutcracker and more about music by Tchaikovsky, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker.

For an appreciation of Tchaikovsky's music for ballets, see an informative book review at: http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Tchaikovsky-s-ballets-6648

For those who study music theory, you might be interested in the section on ballet dance music at this link: http://www.siennasguidetomusic.com/Topics/dance.html

Having watched at least one Nutcracker performance every year, and comparing three Nutcracker productions this year, I have observed significant differences in how different companies and ballet schools present the Nutcracker and how they frame the story.  Often, especially in a ballet school's production with many students from little cute 4- or 5-year olds to teenaged dancers, the Nutcracker is their main production of the year.  Two different dancers with different dance abilities often "play" the young Clara in the party scene and the "dream Clara" (usually an accomplished guest artist) in Act 2 and it can be confusing if the two dancers look so very different from one another!  Sometimes, Clara dances the grand pas de deux with the Prince (as in the Mikhail Barysnikov's version in the link below) and sometimes the Prince dances that with the Sugar Plum Fairy as in the Royal Ballet's version.  Some elements are crucial to the story and some are not.  We started by googling different versions of the Arabian dance and were fascinated by how different they each were.

You can see full length Nutcracker ballet productions online (usually almost 2 hours) so you can fully appreciate the differences in the staging of the Nutcracker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUsFzvDDF0 (Royal Ballet performance which was released on video in 2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6R9KFCzurg (1 hour 41 minutes long, 1994 production in Mariinski Theater)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RcMV091Ifk  (Mpkhail Barysnikov with the National Ballet of Canada)

Locally, in California and in Greater Los Angeles region, there are many versions of Nutcracker you can choose from.  We plan to check out different companies each year.  The Long Beach Ballet version has a live orchestra accompaniment (http://www.longbeachnutcracker.com/About.htm)!.  The Los Angeles Ballet version has a distinctly California backdrop, so always be prepared to appreciate innovative productions as well as traditional versions.

To appreciate the diversity and variations in the Nutcracker ballet, I encourage you to see a different Nutcracker performance each year :).  These two links take you to many local choices of Nutcracker performances:

http://www.nutcrackerballet.net/html/california.html

http://www.redtri.com/los-angeles-kids/where-to-see-the-nutcracker-in-los-angeles

I haven't seen the marionette version or Debbie Allen's theatrical treatment in the Hot Chocolate Nutcracker at: http://www.thehotchocolatenutcracker.com/about/

Girl Scouts and their families can get great orchestra seats at $15 for full length productions at Inland Empire Ballet.  IE Ballet also has the best outreach and ballet-introduction lectures at their slightly abbreviated outreach performances where the art of mime as well as the specifics of body-language storytelling in ballet are demonstrated both for Nutcracker as well as the Little Mermaid and Cinderella.  More at:

http://www.ipballet.org/outreachPerformances.php

Inland Empire Ballet also have excellent study guides for each of their outreach performances at: http://www.ipballet.org/teacherResources.php and this link is for the Nutcracker study guide: http://www.ipballet.org/pdf/NutcrackerStudyGuide.pdf

Don't forget to also check out the different book versions of the original Nutcracker story.





Given Maurice Sendak's work on ballet stage sets and costumes for Pacific Northwest Ballet, this book about the original Nutcracker tale by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 is worth checking out for Sendak's beautiful illustrations.  But, as always, please pre-read before sharing with much younger kids.

Enjoy the Nutcracker performances!