George Balanchine:
”The Nutcracker”
Royal Danish Ballet
December 4, 2015
& December 6, 2015
Steen Koerner:
“The Nutcracker”
Docken
December 2, 2015
I love Balanchine. I love Tchaikovsky and I love the Royal Danish ballet. I should be ecstatically happy when an extra performance is added to the planned 17 performances in December. However, I am not quite there. Not yet anyway.
In an article this week in the Danish daily “Politiken”, it is mentioned that the Christmas run of “The Nutcracker” brings in 25% of the annual turnover for the Royal Danish Ballet and therefore represent an important contribution for The RDB, especially as there now is a cut in funding following the major cuts three years ago. Doing a Christmas run has gone from being an option to a necessity.
The Mouse War is on!
It is not even so that the RDB has the playing field to themselves. TIVOLI Garden has produced their own version with designs by Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark. It is a substandard production with no live orchestra and a few handfuls of dancers, but it stills pull in a crowd. RDB and TIVOLI has made an agreement to share the market and run their production alternative years. RDB has tried to use “Sleeping Beauty” and “A Folk’s Tale” as alternates. However, neither pulls in as many punters as “The Nutcracker”. This year another new – or rather old – competitor re-enters the field the Breakdance, Electric Boogie based version “Nutcracker” from 1982 that has been performed several times since.
Although based on break dance and electric bogey the alternative “Nutcracker” include a classical ballerina, who indeed is the one who finally conquers the monsters. Strangely enough, the role of Klara is a timid girl and more like a traditional heroine needing a hero to save her. An interesting contrast to the classical Nutcracker gutsy heroine. The predominately male corps covers several genres including one skater boy. They use all their key skills impressively but it must be notes that the step repertoire is significantly smaller that ballet.
Ours or Yours?
The Politiken article does not only scrutinize the numbers. They also ask the question: “Is the Balanchine Nutcracker the right version for RDB? When Nikolaj Hübbe chooses to bring on the Balanchine version after two other problematic productions, his argument was pragmatic:”If we have to do “Nutcracker” let us do the best one available”.
There is no doubt that the Balanchine version is choreographically a cut above the rest, still it does not cater for the core qualities of RDB as well as the production, many fans fondly remember, the Flemming Flindt version from 1971. This version was rather crudely choreographed, but had it strengths in creating many leading roles and using the key qualities of the RDB ensemble to the max. It was a work of an Artistic Director bent on presenting the width of his company and stars.
Being a state founded company RDB has not until a few years ago been measured on the ability to full seats and the concept of block performance are still rather new to the company. For NYCB and other companies the Christmas season is an important and necessary funding event. This is a mindset the company has had to adopt.
Starting on Home Territory
The first Act of “The Nutcracker” makes room and opportunity for the RDB to infuse the ballet with their strong character acting. Eva Kloborg is giving the role as Fritz and Marie mother warmth as well as being the hostess with the mostest. Morten Eggert, who will also recreate his Drosselmeyer, gave his all to the character of the Grandfather, almost to the degree where he overshadowed Poul Erik Hesselkilde’s Drosselmeyer. However, this production makes little use of the Drosselmeyer character. He is reduced to a part of the machinery. In all the Christmas scene become much more than an opening scene due to the RDB’s dancers character skills and I am not only talking about the character dancers. Everybody pulls together and creates a sense of real life and charms. The first scenes are also aesthetically very pleasing and tasteful and a strong contrast to the pound shop aesthetic of act 2.
Bring on the Divertissements
The depth of the talent pool is showed – or rather hinted at – in the series of divertissements. On first night every single role was is performed on a high level and with Ida Pretorius’s shepherdess, Astrid Elbo’ s Arabian and -most importantly -Lena Maria Gruber’s Dew Drop it is a joy to watch. Gruber is a small pure and brilliant dancer who have no trouble in covering the stage. She even managed to create the illusion in standing still in the air in one of the diagonals. She created the finest female dancing of the night.
That prerogative would normally go to Caroline Baldwin as the Sugar Plum fairy. Baldwin comes to the role with a resume of a very fine Odette and Aurora, but her timing was slightly off. Her movement tended towards being too big and it seemed like she had a closer relationship with her wand than with her cavalier.
Gregory Dean, possibly the best partner in the company, partnered Caroline Baldwin but they failed in creating the magic and romantic feeling.
The second performance I saw had the privilege of two very strong leading ladies. Ida Praetorius had developed her Dew Drop since the last production to a stellar confident performance. She is so good at presenting her skills, lines and musicality. She is also turning into a Balanchine ballerina.
J’aime Crandall who is originally cast with Jon Axel Fransson was stepping with Alexander Bozinoff when his assigned sugar plum fairy, Alexandra Lo Sardo had to pull out. This role fits Crandall perfect. She can display her strong technique and impeccable style without having to worry about dramatic content.
She guides Bozinoff through the Pas de Deux and let him have the benefit of her experience. Bozinoff has been part of RDB for a longer period and mainly danced divertissements. His biggest roles have been DeGriux in “Lady of the Camellias” and Mercutio in “Romeo & Juliet”. He took a rather cautious approach to the role as cavalier.
In all the two performances showed that the Balanchine “Nutcracker” is well within the reach of RDB. However, fine performances could not really hide that this is far from being Balanchine’s best work. He probably never attempted it to be so. He was in need of a moneymaker that his company could dance two times a day for a longer period and earn some seriously needed money. RDB now faces the same dilemma. Luckily, January will bring a new production of “Theme and Variations”. This is something to look forward to. I only wish that the large “Nutcracker” crowd would follow me to the real gold.
Photos:
- Caroline Baldwin & Gregory Dean in "The Nutcracker" RDB Photo by Henrik Stenberg (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Scene from "The Nutcracker Docken" by Oliver Meyer (Copyright (c) Oliver Meyer)
- Lena Maria Gruber as Dew Drop in "The Nutcracker" by Hernik Stenberg (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
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