News
By Maureen Needham
Nutcracker
Presented by Nashville Ballet
Dec. 15 at Jackson Hall, TPAC
The holidays are upon us. Salvation Army bell-ringers stand outside Kroger, grapevine reindeer sculptures dot suburban lawns, and twinkle-light icicles drip off gutters all over town. Most telling of all, the reliable Nutcracker has once again come and gone, having concluded its annual run this past Sunday, Dec. 17. Think how drab the season would be without the graceful Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier, or without Clara and her heroic Nutcracker. On this, the 12th anniversary of Nutcracker as performed by Nashville Ballet, the spectacle has become an inevitable and much beloved part of the city’s holiday celebrations.
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The dancers themselves are probably of two minds about this. They must be grateful that the ballet helps to earn their bread and butter, since a substantial portion of the company’s annual ticket-sales revenues is derived from this production. However, they do get tired of the same old same-old every year. That’s why they enjoy blowing off steam with The Nutty Nutcracker at the end of the ballet’s run—this parody allows them to poke fun at the story and the characters, and at theatrical foibles in general.
Dancing is an arduous profession, and the company is rather small in number to attempt such a grand-scale production as the Nutcracker. The result is that most everyone is forced to play double or even triple roles during the evening. On the positive side, it does give the dancers a chance to hone their skills by working on familiar material. Company members generally do their best in such whippersnapper contemporary dance pieces as “This Heart” or in fun gothic melodramas such as “Dracula,” but classical dance demands far more precision than those kinds of vehicles. Dancers have to rip off a series of pirouettes in place and hit that fifth position with two perfectly turned-out feet right on the nickel. Otherwise, they lose the crisp exactitude that is the hallmark of classical technique. No wobbles allowed here.
As with all other classical ballets, Nutcracker is a gauge of the dancers’ endurance. If the Sugar Plum Fairy is exhausted by the time she reaches the final laps of her race, her leg is going to dip down during arabesques, her thigh is going to quiver during heavy-duty balancing acts, her pirouettes will slow down noticeably, and she is not going to spring lightly when her partner needs to lift her high above his head. Newlyweds Anna Djouloukhadze-Srb, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Alexander Srb, as her cavalier, underwent a trial by ordeal and proved they could survive. In particular, their overhead poses were most impressive. At one point, she seemed to melt into his body as she leaned in an arabesque pose against him and then bent deeply to the floor, only to be tossed into the air as effortlessly as if she were the proverbial feather.
Djouloukhadze-Srb was less secure in her multiple pirouettes, however. As she tired, her turns seemed a bit slow, even forced, in comparison to her fleet footwork. Her partner’s buoyant, fluttering entrechats (beating steps of the legs while jumping high in the air) were outstanding. This team has potential and will doubtless develop a real sense of presence as they get more experience together in classical works.
Partnering in classical ballet is an exquisite art form. The relationship between the male and female dancer in a pas de deux can throw off sparks or can be dull as lima beans, depending upon the couple. Danielle Quill and newcomer Eddie Mikrut demonstrated how much electricity opposites can generate. She was dynamic, nonchalantly tossing off brilliant, Soviet-style acrobatic leaps while her head and raised arms were dramatically thrown backward. He was a more laconic dancer but extremely supportive of his partner.
Kathryn Beasley as the Snow Queen and Alexei Khimenko as the Snow King conveyed the understated restraint of dancers who have worked together over the years. Other ballerinas in the company could learn much by emulating the soft subtleties of Beasley’s shoulder placement and upper-body carriage.
Nutcracker is one of the rare classical ballets designed for children to perform. Way back in the days of the czars, this ballet featured casts of over 100 children drawn from the imperial ballet school. Nashville Ballet continues this tradition, on a limited basis, incorporating young dancers from the company’s own school. The Polichinelles, in particular, were adorable tiny clowns. These youngsters entered grinning, danced perfectly in unison, and left the stage having stolen the audience’s hearts. Will any of them someday replace Nashville’s own Elisabeth Gillette or Max Caro, the two dancers who alternated the role of Clara? Will one or both of these young women themselves graduate to dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy? Time will tell.
Compliments to the Nashville Symphony and to music director Nicholas Palmer. Under his direction, the orchestra kept subtle modulations of tempo and tone under precise control. It was glorious to hear Tchaikovsky’s music sparkle as it was intended to do.