Cicely Tyson Community School
Dancers
Present
"The Nutcracker"
12/12/10
The Story of The Nutcracker
and the Mouse King was written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann.
In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and
choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned the story
(Alexandre Dumas père's adapted version) into the ballet The
Nutcracker, which became one of Tchaikovsky's most famous
compositions, and one of the most popular ballets in the world.
On December 11 and 12, 2010, the Cicely Tyson Dancers put on a
well staged version which we will try to retell in photos.
The ballet begins on Christmas Eve at the house
of Herr and Frau Silberhaus and their children. Family and
friends have gathered in the parlor. Herr Drosselmeyer, Clara and
Fritz's godfather and also a talented toymaker has brought gifts
for the children. One of the gifts is a wooden nutcracker, which
he gives to Clara.
Herr Drosselmeyer has also brought with him some
lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all the guests. One of
the dolls is a toy soldier.
Another doll is the Colombine. After the dolls
dance, they are put away and it is time for the guests to dance.
The adults dance first, and afterwards, they
watch as the children perform a dance they have been taught.
After the dance,
the guests depart, and the children are sent off to bed.
We are missing
photographs of this section of the ballet, so we are inserting a
Video Excerpt from the performance instead.
During the night,
after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor
to check on her beloved nutcracker. As she reaches the little
bed, the clock strikes midnight. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the
room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights.
The Nutcracker also grows to life-size. Clara finds herself in
the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and
the mice, led by the Mouse King. The mice begin to eat the
gingerbread soldiers. The Nutcracker appears to lead the
gingerbread soldiers, who are joined by tin soldiers. As the
Mouse King advances on the still-wounded Nutcracker, Clara throws
her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the
Nutcracker to stab him.
The mice retreat
and the Nutcracker is transformed into a handsome Prince. He
leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which
the snowflakes dance around them.
Act 2 takes place
in The Land of Sweets (Confiturembourg) ruled by the
Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's palace while awaiting his
return.
She is told that
her Prince is returning to the kingdom in a magic sleigh and the
whole court dances happily in anticipation of his arrival.
The Prince
introduces his guest and he tells the Sugar Plum Fairy how Clara
saved him from the Mouse King and how he had been transformed
back into a Prince.
In honor of
Clara's heroic act, the Sugar Plum Fairy organizes a celebration
of dances by sweets from around the world. The photo above shows
the dance representing Coffee from Arabia.
This is a scene
from the Russian Dance. In the original ballet, Candy Canes from
Russia performed an intricate hoop dance.
In this scene, a
Danish Marzipan Shepherdess dances with her sheep in the Dance of
the Reeds.
A favorite moment
with audiences everywhere is when Mother Gigogne (Ginger) has her
Polichinelle (Clown) children emerge from under her enormous
skirt to tumble and dance.
Following this
came the famous Waltz of the Flowers. The still photos were not
adequate to portray this, so we have inserted a video excerpt of
the Waltz from the performance below.
To conclude the
evening of dances, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform
a Pas de Deux. Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend
who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on
the notes of the scale in an octave in sequence. Tchaikovsky
asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or
descending order, and was assured it did not. This resulted in
the Adagio from the Grand Pas de Deux. Whatever
the reason, this is one of the most emotionally moving of the
dances and never fails to bring applause.
The ballet ended with curtain calls and much
applause for the entire cast who performed The Nutcracker.
The complete DVD made
from the video taken by Frederick Goode is available to members
of the cast upon request.
