The Nutcracker
Performance by Nashville Ballet
Dec. 11-19 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall
8 p.m. Fri.; 2 & 8 p.m. Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun.
$15-$36, for tickets call 255-ARTS
For over 100 years, it has been the tradition for choreographers, directors, and even Sugar Plum Fairies to tinker with the choreography of The Nutcracker, step by step. It is difficult to say what, if any, of Lev Ivanov’s original choreography has survived the myriad of alterations since the Russian ballet’s premiere performance at St. Petersburg’s Maryinsky Theatre on Dec. 5, 1892. Today, it would be much more accurate to describe The Nutcracker as a perpetual work in progress, with hundreds of differing American productions offered each year during the holiday season.
By contrast, Tchaikovsky’s music was scored and therefore survives intact. But choreography is an art form that must be passed on in person. Ballets are ephemeral beings, the dancer inseparable from the dance, and the text of The Nutcracker is less honored than most.
This issue only becomes more complicated when the company performing the dance undergoes a series of changes in its artistic leadership over the years. When Nashville Ballet’s Kathryn Beasley first learned the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in 1991, she did so painstakingly, move by move, as it was demonstrated to her by the artistic director at the time, Edward Myers. Myers had thrown out previous artistic director Dane LaFontsee’s choreography for the role, which was highly derivative of Balanchine’s Nutcracker, and instead relied on the Royal Ballet version as choreographed by the late Frederick Ashton. But when Janek Schergen stepped in after Myers’ untimely death, he changed the steps anew. After Schergen’s departure, Beasley requested a return to Myers’ version; the next artistic director, Benjamin Houk, agreed but took the occasion to alter the role somewhat. Current director Paul Vasterling did the same thing himself when he succeeded Houk. Pity the poor ballerina who must keep all these modifications in mind.
In addition, Beasley points out, some changes “just creep in over the years.” For example, she and her partner may decide to throw in a few more turns because the ballerina excels in multiple pirouettes. Her partner may insert certain leaps to show off his prowess. Or Elaine Thomas, the company ballet mistress, may fine-tune certain aspects of Beasley’s style, to bring it closer to the Royal Ballet’s traditional version.
Foremost among Vasterling’s changes for Nutcracker in 1999 is a greatly enhanced role for the Nutcracker itself. In Nashville Ballet’s first performance of the work years ago, the Nutcracker was only a toy. It inexplicably disappeared halfway through the ballet, while the magician Drosselmayer’s role, as played by then-artistic director LaFontsee, was enlarged far beyond its original scope. For all the changes that have been enacted on the Nashville company’s version of the ballet over the years, this one aspect stayed consistent. But this year, Vasterling has devised a transformation scene in which the Nutcracker turns into a handsome cavalier, then escorts little Clara to a dreamland version of the Kingdom of Sweets, where she is introduced to the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen, and a variety of other enchanting personalities. The effect, Vasterling feels, is far more “dramatically valid” and also in line with the original story.
This isn’t the only alteration the current artistic director has envisioned for The Nutcracker. Vasterling foresees that he will gradually, over the next two or three years, replace the entire choreography. He wants to renew its artistic unity, compromised by all these years of what he calls “cutting and pasting.”
The one exception will be the beautiful Snow Scene, which was originally choreographed by Robert Rodham and mounted by Dane LaFontsee—but since then has not been credited to its creator. That’s another part of the great American tradition of The Nutcracker: Choreographers, especially the original creator Ivanov, often aren’t even listed in the program.
Despite the half-dozen or so choreographers who have had a hand in Nashville’s own Nutcracker, the ensemble manages to hang together surprisingly well. That’s because each has been trained in the classical ballet tradition, as passed on from the Imperial Russian school. And each dancer has remained faithful to the outlines of Marius Petipa’s original scenario, which lays out the action for the ballet. At this point in time, the Nashville Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker is something like a Tennessee friendship quilt, with bits and pieces shaped by many persons to create an artistic whole.
