'Nutcracker' leaves room for interpretation
DANCE
To the many Southland versions add one more: the Kirov Ballet's distinctly Russian program at the Music Center.
In the costume room at Los Angeles Ballet's Westside headquarters, co-artistic director Thordal Christensen is trying to explain what makes his company's "Nutcracker" different from every other "Nutcracker." Opening a huge Tupperware-like container, he extracts a mask of a snarling mouse. "All our mouse heads have different expressions, and some have really evil eyes," he says with pride.
According to Christensen, "going all out on the costumes" is a mark of the "The Nutcracker" as performed by L.A. Ballet. Yet the company is but one of innumerable North American ballet troupes that consider the Tchaikovsky classic both their bread and butter and a seasonal ritual akin to a Christmas ham or turkey. Meaning: Although that piece of meat had better be on the table every year, its preparation remains open to interpretation and, as a result, traditions develop and strong opinions form.
"You don't mess with the music or the story," Christensen says of Tchaikovsky's score and the original "Nutcracker" plot, based on the 19th century E.T.A. Hoffmann tale of a little girl at Christmastime whose gift of a nutcracker doll turns into a prince and transports her to an enchanted realm. "But every year, I think about ways to tweak it, how to give our production its own life."
The same can be said for all the artistic directors seeking to carve out a unique "Nutcracker" niche as they contend with an abundance of concurrent community, school and professional productions. Every one of those shows promises a magical and heartwarming experience. This year, moreover, company leaders must also factor in a production at the Music Center by the Kirov Ballet, which has succumbed to the American practice and is opening its version here for a six-performance run beginning Wednesday. (In Russia, "The Nutcracker" is performed year-round.)
The Kirov, widely considered one of the world's best ballet companies, will offer a distinctly Russian interpretation, one that adheres to a 1934 version created for the company by choreographer Vasily Vainonen. "This ballet has never been revised, and so it's a great opportunity for American audiences to see it," says Sergei Danilian, the Kirov's spokesman and producer of its North American tours.
Unlike the other, definitely more avant-garde "Nutcracker" in the Kirov's repertory, which was directed by the artist Mihail Chemiakin and premiered in 2001 to mixed reviews, Vainonen's version strays little from the original 1892 "Nutcracker," created by Marius Petipa for the Russian Imperial Ballet. "It is also homey and warm, and character is very important," Danilian says.
