As the holiday season begins to decorate the air, most families spend this time of year preparing for their various traditions. From gingerbread house making to lighting the menorah, traditions and time spent with family and friends are a big part of most people’s holiday festivities. One specific holiday event that most families are familiar with is attending the annual ballet production of The Nutcracker.
The popularly understood story of The Nutcracker depicts a young girl named Clara at a Christmas party where she is gifted a Nutcracker soldier by her Uncle Drosselmier. When checking on her Nutcracker after dark, a sudden turn of events results in Clara being attacked by the mouse king which leads to the Nutcracker soldier magically coming to life to protect her. After defeating the mouse king, the Nutcracker takes Clara to his magical land of sweets where she is greeted by snow fairies and the sugar plum fairy and is given various international treats. The story closes with Clara returning to reality with nostalgia of the time spent with the Nutcracker soldier.
The ballet was originally adapted from the story by E.T.A. Hoffmann entitled, “Nutcracker and Mouse King” which depicted a darker and scarier version of the tale than we see today. Alexandre Dumas, a French novelist and playwright, adapted this story into a lighter version renaming Marie to Clara, and making her imagination more playful and less scary than the original. After Dumas made changes a group of Russians partnered with composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa to turn it into a ballet to be enjoyed during the holidays. Europeans loved and adored Tchaikovsky’s score, but the fascination with the storyline never quite caught on. After the Russian revolution in 1917, Russian composers, ballerinas, and other artists came to America and western civilization was enlightened to the story of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s music became acclaimed worldwide especially after Disney released a movie called Fantasia that included Tchaikovsky’s work.
The first American production of the Nutcracker was by San Francisco Ballet in 1944, which was optimal timing because of the popularity of Fantasia, the ending of the war in Europe, and the optimism it brought families after the Great Depression. The audience was captivated by the story not only because of the ideal middle class family it portrayed, but also because of the fascination in the cultural dances as part of Act II.
Western civilization was not previously exposed to dance styles depicting dances like the Spanish Hot Chocolate, Arabian coffee, or Chinese Tea performances, so the interest in something new and different also helped the Nutcracker’s popularity.
The San Francisco ballet performance was choreographed by William Christensen who had never seen the original ballet in its entirety, so he trusted his European sources which included performances by Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and recollections from Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine. After that, George Balanchine decided to move to New York City and create his company, New York City Ballet in 1946. Since then, Balanchine’s revised version and choreography of The Nutcracker are what most families are familiar with enjoying during the holiday season.
However, the interpretation of the original story depends on the ballet company that performs it. The New York City Ballet claims the lead name is Marie opposed to Clara, Dosselmier is her Godfather instead of Uncle, and overall includes more specific details and dances then smaller productions have the budget for.
In more modern days, the story has changed not solely because of monetary or size limitations, but because choreographers and directors want to get rid of the caricature of some of the cultures represented in Act II. Mainly focusing on the Chinese dance, a book published in 2020 entitled “Final Bow for Yellow face” explores the extent that race, representation, and inclusion influence ballet performances, specifically the Nutcracker. In 2017, Georgina Pazcoguin and Phil Chan, co-writers of the book, questioned why American ballet performances continued to “present outdated
representations of Asians in the Nutcracker and other ballet performances” according to their website, yellowface.org. Now the book has become a pledge for dance companies to sign to uphold the values of the organization and promote inclusion in the ballet community. Specifically the pledge states,
“I love ballet as an art form, and acknowledge that to achieve diversity among our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff requires inclusion. I am committed to eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages”.
One ballet company, the Hutchison student body may be familiar with, that has recently signed the pledge is Ballet Memphis, and because they are now a part of the program, the typical performance of the Nutcracker will be very different this year than in years before.
Recently, Ballet Memphis has endured leadership changes within their organization resulting in a new direction the company hopes to progress to. Brandon Ramey and Virginia Pilgrim Ramey are the new Co-directors of School and Youth Ballet which means the youth ballet program will see some changes during these next few years. The significant changes that will affect the general public include their interpretation of the Nutcracker.
When asked about the specific changes to the Nutcracker this year, Sofia Frisch (11), current Ballet Memphis student, says, “The Nutcracker this year [was] just a complete rebrand. They changed the first act in a way that’s more personalized to Memphis. The second act no longer includes representations of people from specific locations around the world that could be perceived as harmful stereotypes, but rather depictions of candies that Clara sees at the Christmas market”
Similarly, Bailey Wiener (12), former Ballet Memphis student, says, “Ballet Memphis is changing a lot this year. They have all new costumes and choreography. Party scene will be in an outdoor setting. Battle scene has been fully revamped.
Ballet Memphis recently signed the Final Bow for Yellowface pledge which means they are no longer doing national dances and are switching over to sweets”.
This will be one of the biggest changes Ballet Memphis will make to their Nutcracker production in recent history. The changes in their production may encourage other Memphis ballet companies to change the international dances in Act II as well. Although there are mixed opinions about Ballet Memphis changing the traditional Nutcracker story, Mrs. Koeppel, Hutchison Dance Instructor and former Ballet Memphis student, says, “Ballet Memphis has always been at the forefront of progress with diverse dancers paying attention to current issues of safe practices of dance and theater so it doesn’t surprise me that they are trying to do the right thing”.
The riddance of the caricature and negative stereotypes involving the international dances has become widely popular after the social attack Asian communities received after the coronavirus pandemic. Dance companies across the country are striving for new and innovative ways to be culturally sound in their interpretation of the original story. Overall, the traditional story of the Nutcracker is prone to change with time as the original story was written 200 years ago and the ballet created 100 years ago. This is just the beginning for the progression of the Nutcracker, and it will be interesting to see how the Ballet Memphis Nutcracker will perform on stage. Reviews are still pending with how the changes will be perceived in America, or if the trend will continue in other countries, but it is exciting to see Memphis at the forefront of this new era.
