The Nutcracker
DANCERS OFFER CREATIVE ADAPTATIONS OF THE CLASSIC BALLET DURING PANDEMIC
The holiday season won’t be the same this year, carolers won’t be going door-to-door to spread holiday cheer and it seems unlikely that parents will be taking their children to visit with Santa. While the COVID-19 pandemic may appear to be dashing away some of the joy of the holiday season, intrepid dancers across the state are determined to continue their annual “Nutcracker” traditions.
No, the show will not be going on as it normally would be staged, but that doesn’t mean ballet enthusiasts and “Nutcracker” fans won’t be able to enjoy the bouncy notes of Tchaikovsky’s “March” to the delicate movements of glitter-adorned dancers.
While some ballet companies have canceled shows outright, due to the pandemic’s social distancing restrictions, others have found a way to offer “The Nutcracker” in some form.
The New Haven Ballet’s dancers, for instance, will be filming a performance of “The Waltz of the Flowers” that they will
make available on their YouTube channel later in December; the decision was made after they were unable to put on their traditional show at the Shubert Theater.
“This is a challenging time for everyone, especially as the holidays approach. ‘Nutcracker’ is an important part of many peoples’ annual holiday traditions,” Lisa Kim Sanborn artistic director of the New Haven ballet said. “We hope sharing our excerpt from the ballet will bring a taste of ‘normal’ back and build excitement for 2021, when we hope to once again applaud the dancers in the theater.”
The Danbury Music Centre will offer a virtual presentation of its 2019 “Nutcracker” production on Dec. 12, featuring behindthe-scenes interviews with the conductor, costume designer and past stars at 5:30 p.m., followed by the ballet at 6.
Arthur Fredric, Danbury Music Centre’s artistic director, said it was a difficult decision to cancel this year’s show for the first time in more than 50 years, but said with a cast of 200plus dancers and musicians, it wasn’t possible for the Centre to adapt its show.
Instead, he hopes a virtual performance will enable the community to come together and celebrate. “Tchaikovsky has written a score that is beloved by everyone around the world,” he added. “I think the story resonates around the world.”
Stephanie Dattellas, artistic and managing director of the Ballet Theatre Company (BTC) in West Hartford, said her company will also be offering a virtual performance of its 2019 show as well.
“This year, although it seems hard to imagine a holiday season without ‘The Nutcracker’ — and without having the opportunity to stage it in a theater and onstage and everything that comes with it — we wanted to still keep it alive in some capacity,” she said.
Dattellas observed that while “The Nutcracker” is a holiday tradition for some, it’s a staple for most dancers and that not staging a live show means a big change for them.
“‘The Nutcracker’ isn’t just about a production or a performance. As dancers, ‘The Nutcracker’ has become kind of the annual staple in our seasons, whether we are students, a choreographer or a professional dancer,” she said. “‘The Nutcracker’ is a tradition for most ballet companies. When you’ve been around ‘The Nutcracker’ since the early stages of your training and your early development as a dancer, it just becomes almost part of your livelihood as a dancer and a performer.”
While the BTC won’t be staging its traditional show this year, Dattellas did note that its dancers will be performing excerpts from “The Nutcracker” from Nov. 27 through Jan. 10 at the Hillstead Museum in Farmington, as part of the museum’s traveling costume exhibit. In addition to the BTC showing off some of its costumes from past performances, the dancers will perform from an enclosed porch, where museum patrons can observe them through the glass “sort of like the Saks 5th Avenue holiday window shopping experience,” she said.
Victoria Mazzarelli, artistic director Torrington’s Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, said the company will be offering a virtual performance of “The Nutcracker” on Dec. 4-6 and Dec. 11-13.
“We’re just trying to have fun and make the best of this awkward, terrible situation,” Mazzarelli said. She also noted that their production will be a reduced show in adherence to the social distancing guidelines and said that the dancers will only be wearing one set of costumes to prevent any outfit crossovers.
In addition to its virtual performances, The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory will share its new Nutcracker film, “Clara’s Dream — A Nutcracker Story,” which was filmed around Torrington and at the HotchkissFyler House Museum, telling the story of what happens after Clara falls asleep and “The Nutcracker” story unfurls.
Woodbury Ballet director Randyl Errica said the school had to cancel its usual show at the Palace Theatre in Waterbury. Instead, students will perform solo variations for parents at a small theater on Chase Collegiate School, a private day school in Waterbury.
Errica said the performance is intended as a morale booster. “I’m doing it for the kids that love to dance. I think it’s very important to keep them motivated and keep them excited about dance. It’s a hard time for them, it really is, so I want to give them something they can look forward to.”
“It’s just heartbreaking,” said Brenda Froehlich, owner and director of Wilton Dance Studio, about not staging the show this year. Instead, her students will perform “Nutcracker Vignettes” in the studio for their families.
Ginna Ortiz, director of the New England Academy of Dance (NEAD) in New Canaan, said her students will be performing on stage to a small audience and virtually on Dec. 12-13 at the Wall Street Theater in Norwalk. While NEAD is still bringing its show to the stage, Ortiz noted that some difficult decisions were needed to make it happen.
“We know that our students look forward to performing in ‘The Nutcracker’ every year, so the hardest decision to make was to cut our cast size from 200 dancers to only 44. That decision broke more than a few hearts, and ours too,” she said.
In Fairfield, the Connecticut Dance School (CDS) refused to celebrate its 50th anniversary without a “Nutcracker.” Instead of offering a virtual viewing of their traditional performance, CDS board president Michele Purcell will offer its new virtual “‘The Nutcracker’: A Tale Retold on Dec. 20.”
“We’re going to adapt our ‘Nutcracker’ and we’ll be turning it into a digital-story-book format of the classic tale,” she said. The CDS production will be a condensed half-hour version of the show, featuring narrations by Broadway actor James Naughton. Purcell said CDS turned its studio into a black-box theater and will be taping the performances there. She noted that it wasn’t easy to quickly transform the studio into a theater but said it was important for the school to do something for the students.
“We’re pulling off something very different, but we felt like we had to do something so we got creative,” she said.