It Just Isn't Christmas without The Nutcracker
Sunday, December 9, 2012
On December 8th, I
decided to hop on the bus and go see Lexington Ballet’s version of The
Nutcracker. Now, as many of you know, I
have been in The Nutcracker more times than I can remember. Upon moving here, I thought I was all
Nutcrackered out. However, upon entering
the Christmas season I realized I had a terrible, terrible first world
problem. I can’t start Christmas and put
up my tree until I have finished Nutcracker season. However, once sitting in Lexington Opera
House, I realized I have another terrible, terrible first world problem: I can’t
enjoy ballets or plays. I really can’t
enjoy being an observer unless the production is AMAZING. I have just spent way too much of my life
working on these projects myself to be satisfied with whatever I see. I am forced to pick everything apart. Now, before I continue, you must know that
Lexington Ballet’s Nutcracker was not horrible, but with their reputation and being
that half their company is comprised of professional dancers, I expected a lot
more. I will do a break down scene by
scene and then give overall comments.
Overture: Wow, there was actual
movement here. I wouldn’t call it
choreography; instead it was mere acting. Drosselmeier was giving the bag of
toys to a delivery girl to deliver to Marie’s (yes, Marie is the Clara in some
versions) party. While completely unnecessary,
I liked this. It added a little forethought
to Drosselmeier.
Party scene: Nothing spectacular
happened. It was basically the same
stuff that happened in every other Nutcracker I have watched or been in. There is not much interpretation to take with
this part. What is unusual, though not
unheard of, is that Marie was played by a high school student and the whole
part was on pointe. I have heard of this
being done, but have never been a fan of it.
It has nothing to do with the quality of the show; I just don’t care for
it personally.
Battle scene: Ok, I liked
this. Some creepy kid’s arm came out of
the clock and motioned Marie towards the clock, only to have the mice spring
out at her. I’ll take it. The battle was a battle. What was different is that the Mouse King was
actually played by a girl on pointe. I
found this more efficient than my performances.
It saved the hassle of finding a male (ballet is always looking for more
men), and it’s easier for the mice to pick up a dead girl “king” than a 200
pound plus male.
Snow Pas de Deux: This is where the show went downhill. The Snow Pas is my favorite part in all of
ballet. Well, here they totally just
decided to rape that part sideways and give the whole pas to Marie and the
Nutcracker Prince (who, by the way, was a professional adult dancer). So they got all this dancing that no one
cared about because Marie/Clara is supposed to be WATCHING ALL OF THIS HAPPEN.
Yes, he takes her to the Land of the Snow TO OBSERVE. I understand the idea of giving Marie/Clara
real dancing, but seriously? Do not take away the traditional pas. Some traditions should never be broken. Maybe this is a traditional variation that I
am unaware of, but I hate it.
Snow scene: Another huge disappointment. I always thought our Waltz of the Snowflakes
(which I did 4 times! I am an expert
when it comes to snow!) was a fabulous piece.
Absolutely gorgeous with every piece fitting perfectly with the music
when performed properly. I didn’t see
Lexington Ballet accomplish this or get anywhere close. The choreography was dull. I mean, I do-not-remember-anything-about-the-corp
dull. Snow Queen was talented, but
without the King just not as exciting.
Since she never got a pas, I never saw her do anything spectacular. She was barely represented. Even in the end the focus was on what Marie’s
final pose, so why bother having a Snow Queen?
Also, I had been relatively pleased with costumes up until this
point. All of the snow corp wore tutus,
which I felt took away from the Queen even more. This is not on Lexington Ballet though; it’s
been a stylistic thing that I have never cared for in ballet. When the corp wears tutus, the solos don’t
stand out enough.
Opening scene in Act II was
standard. As with the party scene, there
is not a lot to interpret here. Almost
always it’s angels guiding Marie/Clara into the Land of Sweets and then the
whole Kingdom greeting her.
Spanish: Pretty good! I liked the
one we did better but I will admit I am biased towards that one! There were three corp girls and one tutu
soloist who was on top of that Spanish flair.
Nice Spanish style added so I was pleased.
Arabian: Oh God, what
happened? Hardly any stylistic liberties
taken at all. Just some waving of the hands and a few weird poses. No corp, no partnering, just the single
soloist. Honestly, it seems that with
Nutcrackers, the Arabian bit is either thrown away, just plain weird, or breathtaking. I am going to put this one in the throw away category. Now, I did Arabian twice, and without a bias,
I will say that our choreography (talking about the steps, not my talent) was
the best Arabian I have ever seen.
Sensual, required strength and flexibility, and just oozed mystery. This failed in comparison – there was no
interpretation of the character at all and the only sensuality brough to it was when she started crawling on the floor like a stripper. Eww.
Chinese was quaint. Not worse than ours with the ribbons, and not
better. I really don’t have any
complaints here with Lexington Ballet.
My complaint is with ballet in general: Why do we have to have a corp
with every piece?! You put a corp in
every part of the Nutcracker, and the corp work becomes less special. Spanish had a corp , Chinese had a corp, and
Russian had a corp, which leads me to Russian…
Russian was really meh. It’s beautiful, huge, great music. When I
think of the Russian dance, I don’t think of a corp in skirts almost
to the ankle and one soloist in a tutu twirling around. I think of big
jumps. Guess that’s why Russian is often
composed of guys. They can jump
higher. These girls barely got off the
ground.
Marzipan (otherwise knows and
Mirlitons or Sherpherdesses) was probably my favorite! I really liked this one. The choreography was
cute and dainty, with costumes that fit that theme.
Loved this bit!
Flowers: My second favorite part! My only complaint (yes really!) is that the
costumes didn’t stand out! By that I mean the Rose corp and the Soloists and
the Dew Drop were all wearing the exact same shade of pink! Hey, Lexington!
Your school charges enough money to pay for your dancers to have differing
costumes. Seriously, you are the most expensive school in town. Let the Dew Drop be blue or purple or
something.
Mother Ginger was the same. Kids doing acrobatics out of her skirt. Yay
fun!
Sugar Plum: Not this crap
again! Sorry, I am Sugar Plummed
out. The choreography was
non-traditional, but really good. The
dancer was great (professional), and I have a lot of respect for the dance
because it’s the hardest solo I ever learned and I never even performed it!
This girl was seamless, but I just don’t care for Plums. Same for the Cavalier.
Finale: It was a finale.
Everything seemed fine though I am pretty sure the Arabian missed her cue
because the stage went bare and the Sugar Plum ended up coming out and
pantomiming. I never saw the Arabian
girl do a finale dance so logically, there was a flub somewhere.
So there you have it: I was bored
with a lot of what occurred. When you
have ethnic dances why would you not choose to spice it up a bit? Make me
believe that your dancers are from that country, even though I know many of those
countries may not have their own versions of ballet. Vary up your colors and
styles so that everyone gets noticed.
And for God’s sake, don’t leave out the Snow pas de deux. Oh, and here is
one final tidbit that I should never, ever, ever have to tell a professional
company: DO NOT LET ME SEE YOUR DANCERS IN THE WINGS! Seriously?
Let me reiterate the part where I shouldn’t have to tell you that. I
shouldn’t see your hand, your skirt, the tiniest outer edge of your tutu.
Lexington Opera House is a professional venue with good wing space. There is no excuse for this behavior in that kind of venue. And do not
get me started on the lack of hitting fifth position… I just feel like if my teacher is constantly
making us hit fifth, the best school in town can too. When you have a professional company, I am
going to expect professional behaviors that even I can accomplish.
Please, do not think I am biased
towards my own performance experiences.
I always admit when I see something amazing! But when I go see a performance that is supposed
to be so much better than anything I could have ever seen in Huntsville, it
better live up to the hype. Lexington
Ballet should have made what I did for those many years look pathetic in comparison,
not fabulous. To be honest, seeing this
show makes me glad I chose not to dish out the $1000+ a semester for their
instruction. What I get from Laurie
Fields is just as good, if not better.
