For many of us, the holiday season is synonymous with joyous get-togethers, huge meals and breathless shopping sprees.
For some central Ohioans, however, the season is dependent on the arrival of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Mouse King and Nutcracker Prince.
During this time of year, central Ohio is teeming with productions of “The Nutcracker,” the classic ballet about a girl named Clara who, upon receiving a Nutcracker doll as a Christmas gift, embarks on a most improbable nighttime adventure involving heaps of snow, waltzing flowers and a kingdom made of sweets.
Several leading productions of “The Nutcracker” will soon be, or are already, underway. Here is a guide to when and where to see the ballet this year.
New Albany Children’s Ballet Theatre
DEC. 1-2, DEC. 8-10, McCOY CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 100 E. DUBLIN-GRANVILLE ROAD, NEW ALBANY
The New Albany Children’s Ballet Theatre — whose annual production of “The Nutcracker” began with a gala performance on Dec. 1 and will resume with four performances between Dec. 8 and 10 — distinguishes itself by remaining true to its name: children are the focal point of this show.
“We have 300 of our youth company that perform all the different parts,” said Artistic Director Tara Miller, referring to students from the ballet theatre’s parent organization, the New Albany Ballet Company, a leading local ballet school.
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Apart from a handful of adult performers — including former BalletMet dancers Jimmy Orrante as Clara’s Uncle Drosselmeyer and Bethany Lee as Clara’s mother — the cast is filled out with students who range in age from 5 to 18.
“Everything else, from Sugar Plum Fairy to Dewdrop, is cast through the ballet school,” Miller said.
Children younger than 10 are assured a part in the production; older students must undergo a demanding audition process.
“Some of them get the roles they wanted and some of them don’t,” Miller said. “They all get a role, though.”
Young dancers onstage tend to be a draw for young audiences, she said.
“A lot of parents who have preschool age (children) or first-, second-, third-graders choose ours,” Miller said. “Children like to watch children. I get a lot of that: ‘We’re going to try yours for a few years.’”
Also appealing to families who go to the New Albany production each year: the production sticks with the tried and true. Children who have seen picture books about other “Nutcracker” productions, Miller said, are likely to recognize the show they see onstage in New Albany.
“The (Snow Scene) is very traditional — classical ballet, tutus,” she said.
Tickets: start at $33.50
More information:www.capa.com
The Hip Hop Nutcracker
DEC. 7, PALACE THEATRE, 34 W. BROAD ST.
Among all the productions of “The Nutcracker” that you might see, “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” is surely one of the few to feature hip-hop, breakdancing, a DJ and a master of ceremonies widely considered to be a rap icon.
The MC is Kurtis Blow, who helps set the stage for what amounts to a thoroughgoing re-imagination of “The Nutcracker.” In lieu of ballet movement, a dozen dancers will use breakdancing to tell an updated version of the same story. In this version, Maria-Clara — as the character is known here — resides in New York in the present day rather than a vaguely European setting sometime in the past (as in most traditional versions).
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The tweaked storyline is the least of the production’s innovations, which also include adding hip-hop undercurrents to the music by Tchaikovsky.
“It was an amazing miracle (and) blessing to see this classical music, the timeless music of Tchaikovsky, and the fusion of hip-hop, funky beats under this classic music,” said Blow, whose albums include the debut self-titled “Kurtis Blow” (1980) and “Deuce” (1981). “I’m telling you, it’s amazing.”
Blow endorses combining rap with other forms of music.
“I have always been an avid supporter of the fusion of rap with other genres of music,” he said. “I was the first to do rock-and-roll on our first album, country-and-western rap on our first album. . . . I did the first collaboration of reggae and hip-hop.”
At the start of each show, Blow, as the MC, always steps out to get the audience in the right frame of mind.
“I get everyone prepared and ready for what they are about to see,” Blow said. “I take them back to the old-school hip-hop days of the 1980s and take them on a journey. I sing a medley of old-school hip-hop songs. The audience is having fun out there, standing up in the aisles, throwing their hands in the air and screaming.”
And then the remix gets underway.
“We leave them all with this feeling of the spirit (and) the magic of the holiday season,” Blow said.
Tickets: start at $36
More information:www.capa.com
BalletMet
DEC. 7-10, 13-19, 20-23, OHIO THEATRE, 39 E. STATE ST.
At BalletMet, each of the 28 company dancers, six BalletMet 2 dancers, numerous trainees and countless students likely have one thing in common: “The Nutcracker” was almost certainly one of their first performing experiences growing up.
“In most schools and companies, that’s absolutely the case,” said Artistic Director Edwaard Liang. “Throughout the country, there are thousands of productions of ‘The Nutcracker’ happening simultaneously.”
With that in mind, how do professional and aspiring dancers keep the production fresh each and every December?
“What’s really wonderful about our main company and our school is that everyone . . . understands the importance of ‘The Nutcracker,’” said Liang, who emphasizes that “The Nutcracker” is usually the first ballet seen by audiences, whether they are young or older.
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“You never know who you’re able to really transform in their lives, especially the younger audiences,” Liang said. “Our artists completely understand that, and that’s why they give it their all every single performance.”
Furthermore, BalletMet’s version of the show — choreographed by Liang’s predecessor, former Artistic Director Gerard Charles — has some unique advantages, Liang said.
“I think the main reason why it’s such a successful production is that it’s paced well,” he said. “It has a lot of humor. It’s chockful of dancing. And, ultimately, it’s about the heart.”
Liang speaks from experience when it comes to the ubiquity of “The Nutcracker”: As a member of the New York City Ballet, he performed in the ballet countless times, but he says it was always a joy.
“I always had a great time,” he said. “Truthfully, it was the music and also just being able to dance so many shows with my colleagues.”His own favorite part? The Mouse King.
“It wasn’t the main Cavalier or Spanish or Tea (Dances),” he said with a laugh. “I really enjoyed being Mouse King. There wasn’t that much pressure. There was swordplay, it was dramatic and it was really fun.”
Tickets: start at $38.50
More information:www.balletmet.org
BalletMet, “My First Nutcracker” will be presented during an hour-long, sensory-friendly version intended for very young audiences on Dec. 20-21, also at the Ohio Theatre.
‘The Ebony Nutcracker‘
DEC. 9-10, LINCOLN THEATRE, 769 E. LONG ST.
The Dance E.L.I.T.E. Performance Academy, a dance school that primarily serves students of color, will present its first-ever production of “The Nutcracker” this year, an all-new production titled “The Ebony Nutcracker.”
“Any chance that you give students to be a part of something magical is special,” said Samara D. Tillman, the founder and creative director of the academy, which trains its students in modern, ballet, jazz and liturgical dance.
“It definitely helps to build confidence every time a young person is able to hop on that stage,” Tillman said. “The reason why Dance E.L.I.T.E. exists is to give young people from all types of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds the opportunity to fall in love with dance.”
In its storytelling, “The Ebony Nutcracker,” which will feature academy students as well as academy teachers filling in some roles, reflects aspects of African American culture, Tillman said.
“One thing that sets our ‘Nutcracker’ apart is we start off in a Christmas Eve church service, because in the African American community, church is a huge deal,” Tillman said.
The lead character is named Ciara, rather than the usual Clara, but other elements of the show — including the heroine’s journey to far-off lands — remain more or less the same.
The production, which the academy hopes to make an annual event, is sure to inspire audiences.
“(Audiences) coming and seeing someone who looks like them onstage helps breed hope in them — hope and excitement,” Tillman said. “Anything is possible as long as you work hard and you believe.”
Tickets: $27
More information: www.danceelitecolumbus.com
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