Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Chapter 9: Dance


Description: The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet that is performed by Southern Ballet Theatre (now Orlando Ballet) in Orlando every year prior to Christmas. The story is broken up into scenes that revolve around Clara and her nutcracker. The Party Scene: Clara is at her Christmas Eve party where she is given a nutcracker as gift that gets broken. The Fight Scene: Clara shrinks to the size of toys around the tree that have come to life where the Nutcracker and toys fight the Mouse King and his army. Land of Snow: Nutcracker becomes a prince and takes Clara on a journey. Land of Sweets: Prince takes Clara to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and tells of their battle where Clara is rewarded with celebration dances. Dream Ends: Clara awakes under the Christmas tree by herself and her beloved Nutcracker.

Technical Elements: This is a formal ballet that is very classical in its interpretation. It is theatrical that has solo dances, duets, and those with choruses. The choreography is of a romantic ballet that is sought to include magic and to escape into fantasy and legend.


Stimulation of Senses: The Nutcracker comes with the time of year. Children seem more innocent and joyful and this personifies that. I used to dance ballet and remember older girls auditioning to play various roles that were considered prestigious. It also reminds me of the innocence of the imagination. 

Clip from a performance by Orlando Ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d5UYrSnI9Y

2 comments:

  1. I would love to see this performance. I hear a lot of great things about it.

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  2. Way to have the same dance post as me! lol and make your caption 50 times more technical!

    ReplyDelete