MUTT-CRACKER HITS THE STAGE
Even casual dance fans have heard of the holiday classic The Nutcracker. But what about The Mutt-cracker?
The humane society fundraiser features a misshapen little mutt named Pig as the pirouetting pet of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Birmingham Ballet has performed the show for the past five years. This year’s version was staged Friday to a near-sellout crowd at the city’s main concert hall.
During the show, a black Great Dane cavorted with Drosselmeyer, who presented his niece Clara with a magical Nutcracker, and a spaniel trotted out on stage with cast members.
A pack of pugs did what pugs normally do: They sat and snorted.
Pig, in a pink tutu, was a featured performer, dancing alone with the Sugar Plum Fairy. Born with a condition called short-spine syn- drome, the three-year-old dog hops somewhat like a frog to stand up and has hunched shoulders that make her gait appear somewhat gorilla-like.
Owner Kim Dillenbeck said being around so many people and dogs in the theatre was unnerving for Pig, whose Facebook page has more than 100,000 followers.
“She is so easily startled because she can’t move her head at all. Her head is fused at her shoulders,” Dillenbeck said. “So for her to come to a place that has lots of noise and stuff is very difficult.”
But Pig was a trouper, especially when given an incentive: During a rehearsal, ballerina Katherine Free held a treat in the air to get her to twirl about at the end of a leash.
Free marvelled at Pig and the 28 other dogs cast for the show. Only a few of the animals were trained performers.
“They give so much to the stage and project to the audience more than you might think,” Free said, “and it’s amazing to see them grow from even their rehearsals to being on the stage.”