The Story (From Boston Ballet's Website)
Act I
It is Christmas Eve, 1835, in a small town in Germany. Herr Drosselmeier is in his workshop putting the finishing touches on a Nutcracker doll. Outside, the chilly streets are alive with bustling townspeople. At the Silberhaus home, the family is preparing to host a holiday party for friends and relatives. As the parents decorate the Christmas tree, the Governess attends to the Silberhaus children, Clara and Fritz.
The Silberhauses welcome their guests and light the beautifully decorated tree. As the festivities continue, Herr Silberhaus invites his guests to dance. Suddenly, a late arrival enters with a flourish, startling the assembled guests, especially the children. It is Clara’s godfather, an old family friend affectionately known as Uncle Drosselmeier. He entertains the guests with his handiwork, mechanical dancing dolls, which delight and amuse all in attendance. Clara is especially fond of the Ballerina as she has great ambitions to be one herself.
Drosselmeier presents Clara with her own special gift, a unique Nutcracker handsomely dressed as a soldier. Fritz becomes extremely jealous of his sister, and plots with some of his friends to steal the doll. With great stealth, he sneaks up on Clara and attempts to snatch the Nutcracker. They battle for possession, but Fritz takes control and smashes the doll to the floor. Clara is devastated and Herr Silberhaus reprimands his son. Drosselmeier examines the damage to the Nutcracker, and after employing several magic gestures, returns the doll to Clara.
Herr Silberhaus suggests a dance and everyone joins in. As the hour grows late, the guests take their leave. The lights dim, and the Silberhauses retire for a long winter’s night rest. As midnight approaches, Clara quietly tiptoes into the room in search of her beloved Nutcracker. Finding him safe and secure, Clara surrenders to sleep on the living room sofa.
No sooner do her eyes close than a mouse appears. At the same time, the old grandfather clock begins to strike the hour of twelve. Clara awakens at the sound and is startled to discover mice scampering around the room. She seeks protection on the sofa with her Nutcracker. Suddenly, Drosselmeier appears, calming Clara as the mice scatter. But there is more adventure in store. The walls of the house begin to change and the Christmas tree grows to enormous heights. And, adding to Clara’s amazement, the Nutcracker grows as well.
The Mouse King appears and challenges the Nutcracker to a duel. Just as it seems the Mouse King is about to be victorious, Clara takes her shoe and casts it at his head. The Nutcracker takes advantage of the moment and slays the evil Mouse King. Drosselmeier reappears and performs one last magical act: he transforms the Nutcracker into a handsome Prince. The charming cavalier takes Clara through the Land of Snow on a fantastic journey to the Kingdom of Sweets.
Act II
Drosselmeier’s magic is still at work as Clara and the Prince find themselves in the Palace of Sweets, ruled by the exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy. The Prince reenacts his battle with the mice to show the Sugar Plum Fairy how Clara successfully fended off the Mouse King. A series of charming dances is performed to honor Clara’s courage, culminating in a very special pas de deux performed by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her handsome Cavalier. As their dance ends, so does Clara’s adventure. But her dreams continue.
This is a great slide show
(http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2008-11/interact/exclusives/slides-nutcracker)
Articals on some people who dance with Boston Ballet
Yarmouth - When Victoria Egan began dancing at age four, she never dreamed that ballet would take her to the stage of the Boston Opera House.
Born with a mind of her own, Tori recalls saying “funny things” about dance studios she didn’t like. “She was only four when she told me there was a monster in a bush at one of the studios,” says Tori’s mother Cheryl Egan. “Tori has always had a sense of what’s best for her.”
In 2004, that instinct led the talented ballerina to audition at the Boston Ballet School, where she studies dance five afternoons a week. This year she auditioned for the Boston Ballet Company’s production of “The Nutcracker,” landing roles as a party girl in Act 1 and a polichinelle — a little clown — in Act 2. Rehearsals began in early October and Tori debuted Nov. 24.
“Everyone in my ballet class had performed in ‘The Nutcracker’ before, and they told me what a wonderful experience it is,” Tori says. “They all live in or around Boston, so it’s much easier for them.”
Cheryl Egan drives her daughter to the daily afternoon rehearsals and weekend performances, a challenging schedule for this Mattacheese Middle School eighth grader. “She does her homework in the car with the light on,” Egan says of her high-honor-student daughter who lives to dance.
The final performance of the popular ballet, based on French author Alexander Dumas’s revision of E.T.A. Hoffman’s story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” is Saturday, Dec. 30. “I’ll miss seeing my friends from the show who aren’t in my dance classes and being on stage three or four times a week,” Tori says. “I’ll also miss talking and socializing with members of the permanent ballet company. I definitely plan to audition for next year’s production.”
During her free time, Tori enjoys writing her own choreography. “I dance it to see how it feels, or I teach it to one of my friends before a class so I can see what it looks like. Right now, I’m struggling to decide if I want to set my sights on being a professional dancer.” Even the decision on where to attend high school is a difficult one for this young dancer, since being closer to Boston has definite advantages.
For now, the Egans are looking forward to spending some down time over the New Year’s weekend at their home in Maine. Tori anticipates her first full-speed ski run of the winter with her friends on the Shawnee Peak Race Team.
“Then we come home to more decisions and daily drives to Boston,” Cheryl says. Tori just smiles, humming the sweet strains of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugarplums.”
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Melrose - Lia Kaynor, a 12-year-old Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School student, could be called a veteran of the Boston Ballet stage. This is the sixth straight year she has performed in the group’s annual production of The Nutcracker, as she has steadily worked her way up to the role of Party Girl, putting her in the middle of one of the biggest scenes in the ballet.
We spoke with Kaynor about how she first started dancing, why she wanted to get the Party Girl role, the sometimes nerve-wracking ballet classes, and the problems with maintaining a full head of curls in the middle of a snowstorm …
Lia, how long have you been dancing?
This is my 10th year dancing, six of which have been at the Boston Ballet.
Where have you danced in the past?
I did dance in a place in Winchester — not that I know the name of it [laughs]. The reason I started dancing was because I was very clumsy baby. So I started ballet and I liked it so I kept doing it.
You were a clumsy baby?
I was a very clumsy baby. I was born premature, almost three months, so I hadn’t quite caught my balance.
Have you worked your way up the ‘role ladder,’ so to speak?
Yes I have. My first year in The Nutcracker, I was the Spanish Girl Doll, which was very fun. It’s just 20 seconds on stage, but it was very exciting. The second year I was an Arabian Doll and after that I was a Polly … that was definitely very, very fun. Because we’re clowns. This year I’m a Party Girl. I was very excited when I got the role because I wanted the role since I was 7.
Why did you want the Party Girl role for so long?
I’m not really sure why, it’s just the one role that my caught my attention. It’s maybe the idea of we’re going to a big party and there’s lots of dancing … everybody wants to be a Party Girl. It’s one of the biggest roles that a kid can have, and it’s definitely met my expectations.
Did you have to audition again for the role?
Every year you have to audition, and the first thing they do to narrow down the people that you have for the roles, is you have to be in the Boston Ballet School. Weeks and weeks before the audition, you have to fill out some paperwork saying your height and all that. They give a book … its says things like how tall you have to be for certain parts. Then they split up the auditions by height and age. Every year you audition for something different.
What other roles could you have played?
I’m quite lucky I got this role because the other roles that I am eligible for were Reindeer or Soldier. Both of those, they’re still great parts, but Soldiers … well, I don’t like the hats [laughs]. The Soldiers have to wear these big, long hats. All the soldiers I know said they’re very uncomfortable. The Reindeer, they have very cute costumes, with antlers and everything, but they don’t have very much stage time. They’re the furniture movers — they move the sleigh across the set … and I’m a performer.
What do you like about performing in front of an audience?
I love being on the stage and seeing the audience and knowing there’s little kids out there doing the same I did when I was a kid … they’re telling their parents, “Mommy, I want to be Clara!” Something that’s amusing about this role is not only does the dancer have to get the stage, but the hair has to get to the stage.
What’s so important about the hair of a Party Girl?
We have to have ringlets — lots and lots of springy, bouncy curls. So before every show, the night before, I have to put my hair in curlers. They never cancel a show, so the last big storm I was on the Orange Line with a shower cap over my curls, because, like I said, the curls have to come in safe.
It sounds like they’re very particular about having your curls look the right way.
Yes. The ringlets are a big deal. This year, they’re not so strict. They want more of a natural look, so if you can do your own hair instead of wearing a hairpiece, you do your own hair and make it unique, instead of having everybody looking exactly the same with the same size curls. They tried to make it different this year, which I think is a good thing; I think it makes it a bit easier.
What’s the hardest part about performing?
I’d say one of the hardest parts about my particular role is the dancing. There is a lot of dancing, more than other parts, and there’s so much going on in the party scene that you have to make sure you stay exactly focused. There’s countless things … and it’s impossible to think of all of them at once. That’s the point of the rehearsal, to get your body memorizing the steps. Once you’re out there on stage, then there’s no going back and it’s just giving out to the audience. I’m very thankful for my teachers at the Boston Ballet School, Ms. Lantz and Mr. Hird, who have both studied at the Royal Ballet School. I’ve had them for many years. Last year I had a Cuban teacher, Ms. Lemus … she was different.
How was she different?
She was a choreographer … she had different techniques, shall we say. She was very funny, she could get away with saying things that no one else could. If it came from anyone else we’d burst in tears, but from her, we’d buck up and do better. One day she got a long pole, a stick, and we asked, “Where’d you get that?” She said, “Oh, upstairs,” and we asked, “What are you going to do with it?” She said, “Straighten you out!” [laughs] She literally did straighten us out. She made our stances perfectly straight and changed the spacing between our arms and legs. If she was upset, she would start banging the stick on the ground … it’s incredibly nerve-wracking to be standing, looking away from her, and have this lady with a pole behind you. She was a wonderful teacher. I learned so much from her … she was certainly an experience.
What’s it like working with professional dancers who do it for a living?
See, I’m very glad you asked that. The teachers and the directors want us to be professional even though we are kids, so watching them and learning from them is amazing. In the party scene when there’s all sorts of professionals on stage, it’s amazing to watch them. There are seven casts in the company, so certain people don’t get to rehearse, they just have to learn it while the other cast is learning the dance. Watching their focus and how much they work to get exactly right, it teaches you a lot. Backstage, we all have our “party parents,” and they don’t know who we are, so they’re going, “Are you my kid?” “Yeah, I’m your kid.” “There’s my dad over there.” Particularly in the party scene, there’s a lot of professionals. In other scenes its mainly kids, because that’s who The Nutcracker is supposed to be for — the kids.
How long do you want to dance?
Ballet is something I’ve been doing since I was two and three, so it’s become a part of my life. I can’t really imagine what I would do with my time if I didn’t have ballet filling it up [laughs]. I’m not sure what I’m going to do as a profession; ballet is just something I can’t imagine living without.
By Lauren Baltrus Boston Ballet School dancer
Since last December....Nutcracker 2007 was one of most amazing experiences of my life because I landed the dream role of Clara and it was pure magic. It seemed like the second that Nutcracker ended, it was time to audition for summer ballet intensive programs. I set my sights on ABT (American Ballet Theatre) in NYC. The audition was nerve wracking, and about a week later I found out that I had been accepted into the 6-week program.
A few months later, in mid-June, I was on my way to the Big Apple, sewing the ribbons on my pointe shoes during the bus ride. I couldn’t wait for my first day of ballet classes at ABT. The apartment we rented for 6 weeks was a modern city apartment within walking distance to the ABT studios, totally different from my regular house. I felt like a real New Yorker, living in the city, and navigating the streets of Manhattan while dragging my ballet bag on wheels behind me.The summer intensive program at ABT was very demanding. We danced for 6 to 8 hours every day. The teachers were amazing -- almost as amazing as my teachers at Boston Ballet! My ballet technique improved a lot during the 6 weeks I was there, and I met lots of dancers my age from all over the country. Some of the best things about living in NYC were the theatre, shopping, and restaurants. I saw several ballets by New York City Ballet and by the American Ballet Theatre. I saw many of the famous dancers that I had read about in magazines. And I also saw many musicals on Broadway. My favorite was Legally Blonde. Living in NYC and attending ABT was a great experience for me. I hope I can go back again next summer! But first, I have another year at Boston Ballet to look forward to
Year Six: New Roles, Old FriendsIt’s great to be back in Boston at my home studio, even though I loved New York. The first week of ballet class is exciting because I meet my teachers for the year. My schedule involves ballet class 6 days a week, with 5 great teachers. I love them all! It is going to be a fun year!Nutcracker auditions are in late September. We never know what role we’ll get in advance. This would be my 6th year performing in Nutcracker. I was 8 years old in my first Nutcracker and had the role of Marzipan doll, which meant I stood on the stage for about 1 minute during the battle scene in a beautiful costume and didn’t dance, but it was fun to be part of it all. One of my happiest memories from that year was becoming friends with another doll in my cast, Gillian. We are close friends today and this year she is in my ballet class!I was a baby mouse in my second Nutcracker and a Polichinelles (or “poli”) in my third and fourth years. Poli’s are the children who run out from underneath Mother Ginger’s skirt. With 8 of us squeezed under that big skirt, it feels pretty crowded, but then the music starts to play, the skirt pulls open, and we come running out one by one. We have a blast dancing on stage and then return to the skirt. In my fifth year, last year, I alternated between the roles of Clara and party girl.A few days after the audition, THE LETTER arrived in the mail. I opened it and read that I would be Clara and a party girl again this year. YAY!!! I am really looking forward to my second year
Claras and Polis and Company Members, oh my! We rehearse from mid-October up until Thanksgiving weekend, when The Nutcracker opens. I have been working really hard in rehearsals, even though I remember most of the choreography from last year. There are lots of little details to incorporate into every scene and we can always use more practice to get it exactly right and to make our movements more beautiful. Because Clara dances in most of the Nutcracker scenes, there are many rehearsals to attend each week. Sometimes I attend 2 or 3 different rehearsals on the same day, in addition to my regular ballet class!All together, there will be more than 250 Boston Ballet School students in this year’s Nutcracker. It’s fun getting to know some of them at rehearsals. I especially love the polis, the mice, and the dolls in my cast. They are so adorable, with their smiling little faces as they learn their steps. I loved being a poli two years ago, so poli rehearsals bring back happy memories. This past week, a poli rehearsal included 3 Boston Ballet company dancers who will be performing as Clara’s uncle Drosselmyer in The Nutcracker. Rehearsing with Sabi Varga, Jared Redick, and Lorin Mathis made poli rehearsal even more fun! I was a little nervous to be dancing with company dancers because they are professional dancers who have accomplished so much, but once we got started my butterflies went away. I love the moment in this scene when Drosselmyer lifts Clara up onto his shoulder. It’s quite a thrill being up so high -- it seems like I can see everything from up there!
Down to the wire...“Are you really afraid of mice?” (Yes) “Is your real name Clara?” (No) “Were you ever a doll?” (Yes) “How old are you?” (13) These are the questions that the adorable 8 year old “dolls” asked me at rehearsals this week. Most of them are dancing in their first Nutcracker this year and are really excited. We are all in final rehearsals now, fine tuning and polishing everything for the stage. Tony Randazzo, one of the Ballet Masters for Boston Ballet, attended several of my rehearsals this week. As the Ballet Master, one of his jobs is to “coach” company dancers. I felt honored to get some one-on-one coaching from Mr. Randazzo. He was extremely helpful. He provided very specific advice to help me get the choreography just right in a couple of the scenes. I feel like my dancing will be better than it was last year when I first played the role of Clara. I can’t wait to dance on the stage! I’m just a few days away from
The BIG day!!! The second that I woke up on Sunday morning, it hit me that TODAY was the big day, my first Nutcracker performance of 2008. My mom curled my hair and I arrived at the Opera House at 11:30, an hour and a half before the 1:00 performance. That gave me plenty of time to wish my cast mates good luck, hear a few reminders from our teacher, warm up, get my makeup applied, and get into my party girl costume. And then it was time to go upstairs to the stage area and stand in the wings and wait for the music to begin. The overture played . . . and my heart started beating fast. The curtain opened. . . . And my heart beat even faster. Party children crossed the stage for the prologue . . . and my heart nearly leapt out of my body. Finally the party music began to play, and I ran onto stage into the party scene. At that moment, my nerves disappeared, replaced by a feeling of excitement.
Dancing in the party scene almost feels like being at a real party, except that it's filled with lots of intricate dancing. I have to act the whole time, which requires as much concentration as the dancing. I've spent so much time rehearsing this scene, but when I’m on stage, it seems to go by so quickly. Time flies when you're having fun!!!! After the party scene is over, it’s time to quickly prepare for the night scene. I have to change out of Clara's bulky party dress into her nightgown. I have about 30 seconds to do this. Immediately after walking off stage, I rip off my pearl necklace and blue headband while the costume lady unhooks my dress. When the dress is off, I change my ballet slippers from black to pink and turn on the "candle". The costume dresser helps me into my nightgown. Now I'm ready for the night scene. At the end of the night, when the curtain closes, the balloon is lowered, and I quickly hop out and run into the wings to get ready for the bows. I hadn’t practiced the bows in rehearsals this year, and I didn't know if they would be different than last year's bows. But fortunately my Drosselmyer, Jared Redick, knew exactly what to do, and guided me through it. Next, I glanced over at the two company dancers closest to me, Kathleen Breen Combes and Erica Cornejo, and followed their lead for the second bow. It was exciting to be on the stage with 2 dancers that I look up to, and to be copying their moves! My first performance had ended. One of the favorite moments of the day was overhearing a couple of company dancers saying, “That girl can jump!” It was quite a compliment, coming from them.
A few thoughts from Clara...Every performance, The Nutcracker audience is different. Sometimes they clap so much, at every little detail. And sometimes, it seems they rarely clap at all. Sometimes I hear little children crying and people coughing. When I'm on stage, I can’t see any faces in the audience, except for the first few rows. For the most part, I see a sea of blackness. The only time I can see the audience completely is when I’m up in the balloon. When I’m up that high, the lighting seems to shine on the audience, and I can see each face vividly. It’s like being on a ride at Disney World.It’s so much fun being on stage, but it’s also fun being in the audience and watching other people perform. I have several friends who are also performing in The Nutcracker this year and it’s fun to watch them perform. I love seeing The Nutcracker over and over again, either from the audience or from the stage, so I can watch different Boston Ballet company members in different roles. It’s a new performance every time. I love all of the Boston Ballet company members but Larissa is one of my favorites because she is an amazing dancer. I am always so impressed by her precise movements and range of dynamics. Yury Yanowsky is another one of my favorites. In one performance, when he danced in the role of my Uncle Drosselmyer, we chatted quietly from the special chair that we sit on during the second act while we watch the performances of various company members. He asked me what Nutcracker role I would like to play if I were a company dancer with Boston Ballet. I said Sugar Plum Fairy. I also like Kimberly Uphoff because she is always really nice to me when she dances in the role of the Governess in the party scene. In one performance, she handed the Russian doll to me and told me it was her favorite and she thought that Clara deserved the best doll. Sabi Varga is also really sweet and funny. He gave the four Claras each a Hershey kiss during one rehearsal. One of the best parts about being Clara is being able to talk with the company dancers, although I’m usually so shy that I can’t say more than a word or two! Two uncles, two matinees, and a public appearance all in ONE weekend!
This weekend I had two Nutcracker performances: the Saturday matinee and the Sunday evening performance. Before my performance on Saturday, I made a public appearance at the Ritz Carlton Sugar Plum Tea. The Ritz ballroom was filled with young children all dressed up in beautiful party dresses and handsome suits. There were two special guests in the room: my cousin Lilly, who came from Illinois to see The Nutcracker, and my sister Jillian. My job was to visit each table, greet the children, and have my photo taken with them. Most of the girls wore crowns that were given out by the Ritz. Some kids asked for my autograph. I got lots of questions as I visited the tables, like “How old are you?” (13), “How many days a week do you dance?” (6), “How many years have you performed in Nutcracker?” (6), and “Do you want to be a professional dancer when you grow up?” (Yes).After the tea at the Ritz, I returned to the Opera House for the matinee. It was a great performance because Uncle Drosselmyer was played by Sabi Varga, and he was so animated that the kid-filled audience squealed with delight. Everything about this performance was magical, from the Russian dancers, to the Arabian dancers, to Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles. It was a great cast and I felt lucky to be a part of it!On Sunday I returned to the Opera House for the evening performance. Yury Y. played Drosselmyer for this performance, so it was extra special for me because I love performing with Yury! I had about 30 friends and family in the audience, including middle school teachers, friends, and my whole family. It was thrilling to dance, knowing that they were in the audience. My friends and family gave me a standing ovation when I came out for my curtain call.
A Real Boston Snow Scene!I am so happy that we had a huge snowstorm this week because it gives me hope that we will have a white Christmas! The snow fell in big, beautiful flakes, not unlike the falling snow in the Nutcracker's snow scene. Boston is covered with a thick white blanket of snow. On my way to the Opera House this weekend, I saw skaters on Frog Pond, children building snowmen, and sleds zooming down a big hill in the Boston Common. Boston is a winter wonderland. The first act of the Nutcracker ends with the dramatic snow scene. The flakes drift to the stage as the reindeer pull Clara's sleigh. During this scene, Clara runs across the stage with the Nutcracker prince through the falling snow, and it's so much fun. The fake snow looks like it would be slippery but it's not.'Til next time...
The Perfect Ending Nutcracker 2008 has been an AMAZING experience. I didn't want it to end! While my mom was curling my hair before my last Nutcracker performance of the year, I thought about how much fun the whole Nutcracker season has been and how I had to make my last Clara performance the BEST one yet! My final performance was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of it, from the second I ran on stage all the way to my final bow. At the end of the performance, I got the biggest surprise ever. Just after I took my bow with the Boston Ballet company dancers, two friends from my ballet class (Bayley and Gillian) walked onto stage and handed the Sugar Plum Fairy and me each a HUGE and stunningly beautiful bouquet of flowers! I was flabbergasted! And I was frozen! I had never been presented with flowers on stage so I wasn’t sure how to react. Was I supposed to take the bouquet? Were the flowers really for me? My friend Bayley tried to force the flowers into my hands and I was in shock. OMIGOD!!!! The flowers are for me! I was overjoyed! The bouquet was almost as tall as me! And to have my friend present them to me on stage made it 1,000 times more special. My final performance as Clara was my best performance EVER! Now, a couple days later, I’m kind of sad that it has ended. It was an incredible season. I have so many people to thank, from the teachers who helped me, to the friends and family who supported me and came to see The Nutcracker, to my wonderful cast-mates who were so much fun. It’s the people who make the Nutcracker experience unforgettable. And thanks to YOU for reading my diary! Now it’s time to start thinking about auditions for summer ballet programs. . .
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