‘Nutcracker’ evolves for life in the pandemic
2 videos, one a retrospective and the other just downright fun, are ready to view
Dayton Performing Arts Alliance created a v ideo to let fans enjoy the holiday classic fromthe comfort— an dsafety— ofhome.
When it became clear that live audiences would not be watching little Clara and her beloved Nutcracker Prince on stage this holiday season, ballet companies aroundthecountrygotbusy, determined tomake the magic happen virtually.
The iconic ballet, adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s“TheNutcracker and theMouse King” with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, has become a Christmas classic throughout the world.
Among those re-imagining the holiday treat were talented folks fromthe Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. As a result of their creative efforts, audiences can continue to enjoy the beloved score and colorful ballet fromthe comfort of their own homes.
The streaming “Nutcracker” video, created by Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Neal Gittleman and Dayton Ballet artistic director Karen Russo Burke, is a labor of love. Accompanying the beautiful music are more than a thousand photos of the Dayton Ballet’s “Nutcracker” performances taken over the past 25 years. For Miami Valley families who have been involved with the production, the video will bring back wonderful memories.
“The ballet has large notebooks that contain hundreds of photographs foreachballet seasongoing back to the year 2000,” explains Burke. “Before that, there were slides and negatives I had to have madeinto pictures. Because there were three different ‘Nutcracker’ productionstorepresent, Ineeded to try and get equal amounts of photos from each.”
The project took months to create. While Russo was choosing the photos that would best tell each part of the story, Gittleman worked on the audio, using the DPO’s archival broadcast from December 2016.
“Onceitwas time tostart assembling the video, I really treated the streamlike a traditionalanimation project,” he explains. “For each of the 15 segments I laid down themusic track first, then placed the pictures to themusic. It’s not dance aswe normally expect, but it’s pictures of dancers dancing and, in away, the pictures ‘dance’ to the music.”
Burke says she was emotional on the night the video premiered online. “It was supposed to be the opening night of our ‘Nutcracker’ run this season,” says Burke, whose husband, Dermot Burke, choreographed “The Nutcracker” when he led the company as artistic director. “It filled my heart seeing so many faces fromthe past that Dermot and I haveworked with over the years. To be able to bring the joy of ‘ The Nutcracker’ ballet to so many people is truly an honor.”
Nutcracker characters get jobs in Dayton
You’re sure to chuckle while watching the clever video created by Dayton Ballet wardrobe mistress, Lyn Baudendistel, and her husband, Tommy. In their sixminute caper entitled“Nutcracker Characters— Getting By in 2020,″ the ballet’s iconic characters are forced to get “regular” jobs in and around downtown Dayton.
Baudendistel says the idea for the video originated when she and her husband were in the car one day eating at a root beer stand during the lockdown. She’d been fretting about the Dayton Ballet dancers — what theywere doing and howthey’d be making ends meet during the pandemic.
The couple couldn’t stop laughing when they envisioned a toy soldier marching back and forth across someone’syardbehindalawn mower, tryingtomakeabuck.
“Then we started inventing jobs for the rest of the characters and it grewfrom there,” says Lyn, who created Christmas videos with her husband when their children were young.
“We didn’t have to look too far, as most of the fulltime dancers already have other part-time jobs or take classes.”
In their imaginative video, you’ll see the Snow Queen working at Ghostlight Coffee, Drosselmeyer creating his magic in Dorothy Lane Market’s floral department and Sugar Plum heading for the classroom as a student at the University of Dayton.
Dancer Miranda Dafoe, who played the role of Nutcracker on stage last year, hadworked atMudlick Tap House, so in the new video, the Nutcracker is working at Mudlick’s.
The Cook is there, too — serving beer. Rat King tries making cheese pizzas at South Park Tavern.
“The most funwe hadwas trying to figure out what the Rat King might be able to do — or not,” says Baudendistel.
“Every timewe thought of a job for him, we thought, ‘no, no one wants to see a rat doing that … unless it’s taking out the trash.’”
Dafoe says she and the other dancers had a lot of fun making the video. “Lyn came to us with the idea and we all jumped at the opportunity to revisit these characters in a new way,” she says.
“It has been a tough year, so we thought this video was a perfect way to lift the spirits of our incredible community.”
She says the response, including moral support and financial donations, has beenmost appreciated.
You can watch the cute video for free at www.daytonperformingarts.org or www.daytonperformingarts. org/ ballet and on YouTube.