Tchaikovsky’s scores and nutcracker dolls have become synonymous with the holiday season, a time when many ballet companies unveil their productions of “The Nutcracker.” With the show performed on a yearly basis, dancers and audience members get the opportunity for new experiences through an old tale.
“The Nutcracker” ballet premiered in St. Petersburg, 1892, as a loose adaptation of one of E.T.A. Hoffman’s short stories, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” The ballet gained popularity in the U.S. in the mid-twentieth century, and has since become a Christmastime tradition. Former ballet dancer and current Ph.D candidate at Harvard Sofiya Boroday recalls her experience with “The Nutcracker” in a student-run ballet company at the University of Chicago.
“Since it’s such familiar music and a familiar concept, people were way more interested in watching it than they might have been in attending one of our full-length ballets,” Boroday said. “It’s a much more accessible ballet, and its cultural significance means we could actually be more creative with the choreography while still knowing people would get what was going on.”
In a standard adaptation of “The Nutcracker,” the first act takes place at a Christmas Eve party, in which Clara is gifted a nutcracker doll that comes to life. In the second act, the nutcracker prince takes Clara into the land of sweets, and dancers perform as the residents.
“I think it’s a really interesting story,” ballet dancer junior Caroline Musci said. “It’s all kind of a dream or fantasy which is really cool. My favorite part is when you have the complete show it’s really like all of my hard work paid off, and it just feels so magical dancing on stage.”
As dancers gain experience and progress in skill, they are given greater roles. In this year’s Fairfax Ballet Company production, junior Gwyneth Moon plays Clara. In previous productions, she played the mechanical doll, a peppermint stick, a snowflake and various group roles.
“The first years of being in [Fairfax Ballet Company] are really overwhelming,” Moon said. “You’re being thrown in with all these older girls who know what they’re doing. But over time, you learn how rehearsals work and it becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable.”
Historically, productions of “The Nutcracker” often involved ethnic stereotyping in the portrayal of regional sweets in costumes and choreography. In recent times, productions have taken a step away from these practices. Moon notes Fairfax Ballet Company has removed descriptors, with names such as “Spanish Chocolates” becoming “Chocolates.” However, Boroday points to the music itself containing stereotypes, such as No.12b “Coffee (Arabian Dance)” and No.12c “Tea (Chinese Dance),” and the ballet being a product of European tokenization of non-European cultures.
“My personal opinion is it’s pretty hard to imagine a way to rework those dances that wouldn’t still have at least a vaguely problematic energy,” Boroday said. “Still, that doesn’t seem to have stopped the ballet from becoming and remaining popular, and it’s certainly not a ‘Nutcracker’-exclusive issue. Lots of people still love watching and performing the ballet, whatever version of it they’re encountering.”
Productions of “The Nutcracker” are staged nationwide from November to February, including several in Northern Virginia. The Washington Ballet’s production will be ongoing Nov. 29 through Dec. 28 at Warner Theatre. The Fairfax Ballet & Fairfax Symphony will be performing Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 at George Mason University Center for the Arts.
“I think ‘The Nutcracker’ is just like a classic Christmastme story,” Musci said. “I have so many friends who, every year, they’re like, ‘I love going to see you in the nutcracker.’ It’s just a fun Christmas tradition for so many people.”
