photo credit: Malak Chahboub
“The Nutcracker” ballet involves smuggling and secrecy. According to Yamaha, the composer of the ballet, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, smuggled an instrument called the celesta from Paris to St. Petersburg because he wanted to be the first to use it in a performance.
Though “The Nutcracker” ballet is considered the most well-known ballet around the world, according to Wikipedia, the production is different depending on the ballet company that performs it. Each production company develops and presents its own rendition of the ballet, meaning each person has a different experience and memory of the ballet.
“The Nutcracker” was first brought to the United States by George Balanchine in 1944. Since that first show in 1944, the ballet has found its way into Americans’ hearts and became the classical ballet of the holiday season.
The ballet company BalletMet produces the most popular rendition of “The Nutcracker” in Columbus, staged in the Ohio Theater. The director of production at BalletMet Brandon Curtis has been with the company for eight years watching BalletMet’s rendition of “The Nutcracker” change and succeed.
“You get to know the show really well. Some of our staff has been with us since the first show in 2004, and many of them come back every year,” Curtis said.
Though she hasn’t been with BalletMet since 2004, this year will be junior Kaitlynn Hanna’s eighth year dancing in “The Nutcracker”. Like many members of the cast and crew, “The Nutcracker” is always a special tradition for Hanna.
“‘The Nutcracker’ is so special to me because it’s really what inspired me to start dancing. My family would always go to see BalletMet’s Nutcracker every year when I was little,” Hanna said.
Adrienne Selsor, a fan of “The Nutcracker” and mom to juniors Audrey and Will Selsor, had a very similar experience to Hanna. She was easily entertained by the spectacle and difficulty of the ballet.
“I went with my parents and sister as a little girl and with my husband and kids as an adult. It is amazing the physical endurance dancers have to be able to move their bodies in a ballet,” Selsor said.
For many American families, like Selsors, “The Nutcracker” is an integral part of many holiday traditions. In the United States, the ballet has become a Christmas classic.
“Even if you don’t know anything about ballet, you still know ‘The Nutcracker’,” Curtis said. “Many people don’t realize until they see the show just how much music or how many characters they know. ‘The Nutcracker’ is a big part of the holidays.”
To become so widely recognizable, lots of work had to go into the production of “The Nutcracker”. For Hanna this work takes place with rehearsals and choreography over the span of several months.
“There is definitely a lot of work everyone puts in to make ‘The Nutcracker’ happen. The process starts very early from the shows, as the auditions are held in September,” Hanna said. “From there, rehearsals start the following week and are held every Saturday for the first couple of weeks. As we get more into November, you begin company rehearsals, which tend to be longer.”
The difficult, lengthy process of the cast’s preparation is common for most ballets and companies. But the short and intense preparation that the crew must do is less common and much different compared to the dancers.
“The show opens Thursday night, but we pack the trucks with equipment and artwork the weekend before. We work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. the days leading up to the performance. It takes up to 100 dancers and 25 to 35 crew members building and emptying trucks. Finally, 15 crew members stay during the show to make everything happen,” Curtis said.
With 23 performances in the span of 16 days, it’s daunting just thinking about the amount of work, time and effort that goes into producing The BalletMet Nutcracker. Thankfully, all the hard work pays off when families like the Selsors and Hannas get to experience the true magic of “The Nutcracker”.
“People should see the production of BalletMet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ because it is such a special experience, and it really puts you in the holiday spirit! Especially seeing the show in the beautiful Ohio Theater, is so surreal, and it’s a beautiful and such a fun show to watch,” Hanna said.
The magic and grandness of “The Nutcracker” is an experience like no other. Tickets can be found on the BalletMet website for performances that run from Dec. 7 to 23. Purchase tickets before they run out.
