The Nutcracker ... Re-Imagined

The original story of "The Nutcracker" ballet was written as a novella in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Titled Nussknacker und Mausekönig, it is set as you would assume by the language in an affluent Prussian manor house at Christmastime.

In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas pere's adaptation of the story into the ballet "The Nutcracker," which became one of Tchaikovsky's most famous compositions, and perhaps the most popular ballet in the world.

future dancers in the lobby

We have seen it countless times performed by many ballet companies. The American Ballet in NY, The Washington Ballet in DC. The San Francisco Ballet in CA. We have seen other interesting interpretations in the US as well. The Pacific Northwest Ballet's version with costumes by Maurice Sendak comes to mind. And Mark Morris's imaginative "Hard Nut" which he choreographed for the Monnaie Dance Group in Brussels.

If we traveled at Christmas and it was being performed where we were, we'd go. We've seen it performed at Christmas time by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, both choreographed traditionally after Petipa . We saw a version by the Royal Danish Ballet at Tivoli Garden in Copenhagen which had been re-choreographed and set in the winter forests of Scandinavia.

tutus

But  the one with which we are most familiar is the New York City Ballet's version choreographed by George Balanchine. A staple of our Christmas season for many years, we must have seen the NYCB version 35 times or more! It is also choreographed after Petipa and has a very Russian feel.  And no matter how many times I saw it performed, I would always cry with happiness when the Christmas tree grew and grew and grew on stage. It was just so beautiful!

We recently went to see the Joburg Ballet's  newly re-choreographed version of "The Nutcracker" which they have dubbed, "The Nutcracker Re-Imagined." It is set in South Africa and while the plot and the music are the same, the choreography and staging are anything but Russian.

the Sangoma

To begin with, Herr Drosselmeyer is no longer a Herr. Herr is a she. And she is a Sangoma. Makes sense as the original Herr Drosselmeyer was a toymaker / inventor who also dabbled in black magic.

Like the original, it takes place on Christmas Eve and the family has gathered with friends and relatives to sing and dance and feast. The children of the house, Clara and Fritz, and their friends join the party with the adults.

Instead of setting the ballet in a snowy Prussian manor house, this Nutcracker has been re-imagined in a Colonial-style hunting lodge in the green hills of KwaZulu-Natal. The house is decorated with spears and shields and animal trophies. The chairs are upholstered in  leopard print and the curtains are zebra-striped!

The guests include the Sangoma who presents Clara with a magical Nutcracker for Christmas. But this Nutcracker is zebra-striped too. Instead of Fritz pretending to be a soldier to annoy his sister with his noisy pop gun, he gets in the way with his new soccer ball, another gift from the Sangoma. After Fritz is reprimanded for being a nuisance, he still gets even with Clara by smashing her new Nutcracker though.

After midnight, the Sangoma's magic really takes over. The tree in the background becomes an enchanted baobab Christmas tree decorated with birds of paradise and proteas.

Namaqua daisies

Instead of dreaming about giant menacing mice attacking her and the injured Nutcracker in the parlor, Clara's dream takes them underground where they are confronted by acrobatic miners wearing headlamps!

The Nutcracker turns into a Sun god, saves Clara and takes her to his magical land. Not through a pine forest to a candyland filled with candy canes and sugar plums though. The Sun god takes her instead to the vast Kalahari Desert.

In place of snowflakes dancing in falling snow, there are San rock art figures that come to life to perform. The Sangoma summons a mighty rain to wash over the thirsty Kalahari turning the desert into a valley of flowers. Not roses like in the traditional Nutcracker story. In the re-imagined version, Namaqualand daisies dance the Waltz of the Flowers!

Gumboot dancers

And there aren't any Russian Cossacks jumping and kicking up a folk dance in this version either. Instead, we had Johannesburg Gumboot dancers. (Gumboot dancing was conceived by black miners in South Africa as an alternative to drumming which authorities restricted. Like the Russian Cossack dance, the Gumboot is highly athletic and animated.)

A Dew Drop and her Cavalier would be out of place in the wide open Kalahari. In their place the Sangoma has conjured up the Sun god and Moon goddess whose eclipse dance blots out the stars to convey their impossible love.

By re-imaging this most famous European ballet and giving it a distinctly South African edge, Joburg Ballet did a great job of making The Nutcracket ballet accessible to a young South African audience. And quite frankly, to some jaded older Americans as well. I had no interest in seeing the classic version here in South Africa. The inevitable comparison would have only led to disappointment. This version however was fresh and fun and kept us enthralled.

Bravo Joburg Ballet!

The Joburg Ballet

We finally went to see the South African Mzansi Ballet or the Joburg Ballet as it is now called. Instead of seeing their brand new production of Cinderella, we opted instead for a program called Celebration 5.

Celebration 5 features seven (not 5) short ballets and excerpts from a couple of full-length ballets. Most were pretty modern ballets and there was also a pas de deux  from Le Corsaire with choreography after Marius Petipa and one called Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de Deux with choreography by the equally legendary Auguste Bournonville.

Most of the short ballets were choreographed by Joburg Ballet's own resident choreographers. A couple were by guest choreographer Alvaro Restrepo who is the Director and co-founder of Colombia's El Colegio del Cuerpo whose members also  performed with the company.

Most of the pieces were very enjoyable and were danced very well. We got to see a range of dancing styles and abilities danced in very classic and more modern ballet styles. The first thing you notice is that there is no pit orchestra. Come to think of it, there is no pit. We were spoiled in New York! The recorded music was actually pretty good though. One ballet had a DJ on stage who was also part of the scenery. That was very, very good. The second thing you notice is the dancers are much more athletic and acrobatic than the dancers we are used to at home. And ripped!

I have to say as the evening progressed we were thinking "this is ok, we could do this a couple of times a year. Maybe we should get tickets to The Nutcracker for Christmas." Then the curtain went up on the last ballet, God-by-the Sea.  "Concepcion and Choreography"  by Alvaro Restrepo. Concepcion? Uh oh. That did not bode well.  Somebody takes himself way too seriously. (PS he describes himself in the program as Colombian Dancer, Choreographer and Pedagogue. That should have been my first clue!)

That really bit!

As it turned out, it was worse than we thought. The music was disharmonious - and not in a good Stravinsky way - chants and cantigas and just noise. And the program included an except from a Pablo Neruda poem about death as a way to describe the ballet. Strike three.

I tried to figure out what was going on up on the stage but I soon gave up. I can't really comment about the actual choreography or how the dancers performed because I sort of curled up into a ball and fell asleep in self-defense. Apparently one of the female dancers gets completely naked on stage and Vince said even that could not save it! As Leonard Pinth-Garnell used to say on SNL's Bad Ballet, "That really bit!"

photographs for sale in the lobby

But on a good note, the Joburg Theater Complex is really nice! There are a number of theaters in the Complex showcasing most of the performing arts. Very nice and modern. There is free and secure parking underneath the complex and there is a restaurant with a full bar on the ground floor. These things are very important in the CBD. You do not have to worry about parking and if you get there too early, you do not have to roam the streets looking for a bar or a restaurant to have a pre-theater cocktail.

And speaking of getting there early, do not be late! This was the first time we have ever seen anything start on time since we got to South Africa. That curtain went up promptly at 7:30.

The Joburg Ballet is still a young company. Maybe they haven't found their voice yet. Maybe God-by-the-Sea was just an aberration. After all, the NYCB had its klinkers in my estimation. Can you say Bugaku?

We may still go to see the Nutcracker at Christmas.

South African Mzansi Ballet

inside the Mariinski Theatre

Ballet is my favorite of the performing arts! It has music (Ray Charles and Wynton Marsalis have accompanied the New York City Ballet on stage), theatre (John Lithgow and Patti Lupone have narrated too), art (Picasso and Chagall designed several sets for Balanchine's ballets), fashion (Chanel and Stella McCartney have designed costumes as well).

Besides the New York City Ballet (where we subscribed for 30+ years) and the American Ballet Theater (where we subscribed for 5), New York plays host to all of the American and indeed the world's greatest ballet companies and we saw them all on stage at Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

But just as there is nothing like seeing the New York City Ballet on its home turf at Lincoln Center, there is no substitute for seeing any ballet company in its home venue with its inspirations and muses in the seats and in the surrounding city and country. They just seem to dance better! So whenever we travel we try to do just that. The Kirov at the Mariinski Theatre, the Bolshoi in Moscow, the Stuttgart, the Melbourne Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Teatro Colon Ballet, even the La Scala Ballet at Milan's Opera House.

So I was THRILLED to the tip of my toe shoes to see that Joburg has a resident ballet company, the South African Mzansi Ballet!!!

It is a new ballet company having been only established in July 2012, following the merger between The South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) and Mzansi Productions but they have a relationship with the ballet diva Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet. They have adopted the Cuban method of ballet training in their dance school. Vince and I saw Alicia Alonso dance many years ago when she performed as a guest artist in New York. She has an amazing life story!

The SA Mzansi Ballet is in residence at the Johannesburg Theatre in September fresh from an international gala tour celebrating Alicia Alonso. Can't wait!