The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is the epitome of ballet for me.  I took nine-years of ballet lessons myself, so I obviously have an affinity for the art.  And I've been hooked on The Nutcracker specifically ever since the second grade field trip that my class took to The Orpheum in Memphis to see it.  I love it!

I remember going to productions several different years as a birthday treat, usually to the Jackson production since it wasn't terribly far away from home.  I always thought it would be fun to dance as Clara, or maybe the Sugarplum Fairy, or I might have even settled for a mouse, although they don't have very pretty costumes.

Anyway, as often as I can I try to make it a part of my holiday celebration.  I just enjoy it. 

In Prague, I was able to go to a production on the day after Christmas for 75 cents.  That's right folks, you read that correctly, 75 cents.  The ballet company did a fantastic job, but it was definitely a Czech interpretation of the story.  More like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol meets The Nutcracker.  A flying bed has no place in a ballet.  And dancing demons don't really add to the story either.  So, while it's hard to be displeased with a fantastic rendering of Tchaikovsky's musical score masterpiece, I still left with a bit of disappointment over the odd interpretation.

This year I was quite pleased to be able to cleanse my ballet pallet with a purist version performed by the The English National Ballet.  It was fantastic and the music and the dancing were as wonderful as I remembered them from my growing-up years.  Now that I've been to see The Nutcracker performed true to the story I feel like all is well in the ballet-world once more.