The Joffrey's New Nutcracker

I don't get out to see the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker every year, but last year when we learned it was their final time producing their classic version we made it out to Chicago to soak it all in one last time. This month I got to see Christopher Wheeldon's new take on it.

I've seen other more local productions too throughout the years, and various movie versions/youtube clips, and typically each company doesn't vary too much from the classic story, scenes, and characters. The new Joffrey Nutcracker is certainly unique-it's set the Christmas before the opening of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 (which introduced the first Ferris Wheel to the world, among other novelties-you're welcome, Earth!). Clara (whose name went back to Marie...possibly a nod to the Hoffman story?) is now the daughter of one of the immigrant workers on the Fair.  Her family lives in a shack on the developing Fair Grounds-one that was based on a historical photo.

So it's an interesting choice for a setting, although it may hold less appeal for out of towners. One of the most significant differences is that Marie is now poor, and the Christmas party scene looks very different. Purely from a visual perspective, the party scene isn't nearly as colorful or lush, but it makes for good exploration of what Christmas might have been like for most families around that time who couldn't necessarily afford the luxuries that Clara's family does in most ballets. From the program notes: "Instead of receiving luxurious and rare presents at a magnificent party in a vast house and then dreaming of even more presents and candy, our story offers a small gathering of immigrant workers coming together to celebrate the holiday with the things they have, filling the air with music and their vivid imaginations." When the tree transforms, it's significant not just because the tree magically grows, but because the tree originally started out as basically a cheap, Charlie Brown Christmas Tree that disappoints Marie, and it becomes a more lush and decorated tree in the process of growing.

The score is the same classic Tchaikovsky music, although with a few minor changes-during the party scene, some of the dances were played by three onstage musicians, as characters playing for the festivities. It added a sense of authenticity, although there were times I missed the full orchestra. The dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (who is now the Queen of the Fair) was moved to earlier in Act 2 and I think at least one variation was removed (the Nutcracker or Cavalier's solo after the big Pas de Deux).

I like Chicago history as much as the next person,probably even more, and although the setting was interesting I almost felt by the end like we were being hit over the head with it, in almost propaganda-like fashion: "The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 was the greatest anyone could ever dream of!!!" The Fair isn't merely the setting with interesting themes to explore, it became the thing the ballet revolves around. The opening scene has a huge billboard advertising the coming of the Fair; instead of mechanical dolls at the party the Drosselmeyer character (the Great Impresario, modeled after the Fair's chief architect Daniel Burnham) creates a silhouette model of the Fair for the children; the Waltz of the Snowflakes was performed with the Fair in the background and the entire Land of Sweets was replaced by the Dream Fair. To be fair (haha...no pun intended), the setting did make sense of the dancers from all around the world, as the program compared the World's Fair to Disney World's Epcot, giving you a "taste" of different countries' cultures from around the world. Still, in the old Joffrey production that element was tied together by the dolls that came to life under the tree, each representing one of the dances in the second act.

One of the more disappointing changes for me, personally, was replacing the Russian dance with a Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Show. Although there really was a Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Show at the original Fair, making it historically accurate, the Trepak is one of the most iconic dances in the ballet- but really I just found the choreography to be unimpressive. I feel like they could have done more with Cowboy Bill than swinging a lasso, the saloon girls hardly did anything, and the dance lacked the energy of the Russian dance-but the rest of the audience loved that one. I also thought the choreography was poor for the Mother Ginger dance-which used to feature children doing tumbling and ballet, and is now child dancers in walnut costumes that frankly made me feel like I was watching a local dance studio's production of Nutcracker and not one of the top ballet companies in the country. Yet again, others disagreed-one reviewer called that dance the most hilarious part of the show.

So overall, it was an interesting look at the Nutcracker story and I enjoyed it. Still, for the traditionalists in our group, we kind of missed the ballet we knew and loved. Yet not everyone agreed with us-I overheard a woman afterwards saying she liked this better than the old ballet, and critics have given it great reviews. It will depend on what you're used to and expect when it comes to Nutcracker-some people may be itching for a new way to look at the story, but others of us love the nostalgia of recreating old traditions at Christmas-one of my favorite Christmas memories has just been replaced by a totally different ballet. Although I did like the concept, I don't know that I'll be dying to see this as often as I did the classic version (just as well, since it will be harder to get to it in future with a baby!). Speaking of which...one cool thing was that one of the party guests in the first act was "pregnant"-I think it's probably pretty rare to have a pregnant character in any ballet!

Although I really will miss my favorite element of the old ballet: one year, a child showed up to audition in a wheelchair, and so a character in a wheelchair was made part of the cast every year after that, participating naturally with the other boys in their party shenanigans. At the very end of the party scene, Drosselmeyer would give that child a magical "blessing" and it always made me tear up (I teach music to people with disabilities).

I don't know that I have a lot of local Chicagoland readers, but if anyone else has seen the new Nutcracker I'd love to hear what you think! Gypsy posted on it a few days ago, with several excerpts from other reviews, for more on what the experts have to say and not just my sentimental reaction ;).

Dancing, Desire, and Death: The Role of Footwear in Fairy Tales

In the last section of Colleen Hill's fabulous Fairy Tale Fashion, she included some essays by other writers. I was really excited to read Ellen Sampson's "Dancing, Desire, and Death: The Role of Footwear in Fairy Tales." Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my all time favorite tales and it's one I wish would be discussed more often; plus, the role of dancing in fairy tales can be so ambiguous and often contradictory.

There is a section specifically on footwear, although that topic has been discussed before here, so if you're interested in further reading on shoes, you can read about the significance of shoes in Perrault's time, Red shoes in fairy tales and history,  or Kathrine Langrish's excellent essay Slippers of Glass, Slippers of Fur on Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

The subject of dancing in fairy tales, though, is a pretty bleak one at the outset for feminists. Sampson reminds us that many fairy tales were aimed to promote obedience in women-the Victorian versions we're most familiar with reflected the values of the day. "In fairy tales, women's bodies are strictly regimented and disciplined. They are controlled physically (putting Sleeping Beauty or Snow White to sleep), spatially (locking Rapunzel in a tower), maritally (gifted to Rumpelstiltskin as a reward), or sexually. Their bodies may be transformed (into geese or trees), altered (made handless or footless, smaller or larger) or even consumed, but they are rarely inhabited or possessed by their owners for long." I'm not sure which version of Rumpelstiltskin she's been reading...the protagonist is never given to him in marriage, but the King, but there are plenty of other tales where a princess is also given away in marriage, even against her will, so the point stands.

Sampson also points out that women who stray from the culturally accepted humility and dare to long for beautiful shoes, or to dance the night away, are severely punished. Karen in "The Red Shoes" eventually gets her feet amputated, similar to the stepsisters in Cinderella whose feet are mutilated in an attempt to fit into the slipper. Then, of course, there's the stepmother in Snow White whose punishment is to be danced to death in red hot iron slippers, fresh from the fire. "The animation of the body that shoes induce is punished in the most violent and spectacular manner...The production of stillness and silence is the aim of fairy tale violence-it renders the (female) body docile." Even for Cinderella and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, who may not be directly punished, through marriage they are given to the authority of another man and their dancing is stopped. The essay ends with the uncomfortable description of Karen's confession followed by her amputation.

Yet can that really be the whole symbolism of dancing in folklore? That is just represents women who are rebellious and must be tamed? I had wondered about the different uses of dancing-sometimes it leads to death, but in Cinderella's case it is both her reward and it's the catalyst that leads to another reward, the Prince/escaping a life of servitude. Sampson explains this by saying it's all about the context-women may dance at the proper time, the proper steps, in a formal setting-but must not dance out of passion and desire, like the twelve Princesses who dance the night away in an underground kingdom. Many scholars see the twelve Princesses as symbolic of women who are mobile and capable of rebellion-they spend the night exploring, dancing in a forbidden context, and the fact that their shoes are completely worn through by morning indicates the passion and extent to which they are dancing. They weren't performing a few courtly dances, but having a wild night of excessive dancing. In many fairy tales that feature shoes, it's even ambiguous as to who's controlling shoes-the Red Shoes force Karen to dance, and maybe it's the dancing shoes that brought the twelve sisters to the underground Kingdom and forced them to dance as well.

Scholars also interpret the Princess' underground nightly romps as being sexual in nature. It makes sense, but when I was younger it never occurred to me that you would need any other excuse to sneak out at night than to have access to an enchanted Kingdom in your own bedroom to explore, and fancy balls to attend. And here it  is that we see the often confusing logic of fairy tales-characters (and vicariously through them, the readers) are rewarded with the same things they are punished for desiring. We see many tales in which the main character is rewarded for being unmaterialistic-by being given great material wealth (such as in "Beauty and the Beast"). In Cinderella, the stepsisters must have chunks of their feet cut off for daring to desire the wonderful slipper and the royal life it represents-yet Cinderella is rewarded with both. Karen longs for the red shoes when she sees a count's daughter wearing them. Karen is punished, in a way, not for wanting beautiful things, but for wanting things that don't belong to her station in life-the red shoes are appropriate for the count's daughter, not for Karen; just as the slippers are meant for Cinderella and not her stepsisters. In a way it seems unfair, especially to our modern minds where we view class distinctions as less important than most other cultures.

And, although Sampson briefly mentions "Juniper Tree" as an example of how acquiring new shoes can be satisfactory, I think it's very important to contrast to the other tales, especially "Red Shoes." In that tale, Marlene is rewarded with a pair of red shoes. It's clear that she desires and enjoys them, and they are not seen as inappropriate for her, though she is poor, because she has a good heart. It's also important to remember that "Red Shoes," the most extreme example of a preachy tale concerning shoes and dancing, is not true folklore in the sense that the story has circulated around many cultures for generations with a similar structure, but was a literary invention of one man, Hans Christian Andersen.

Even in the tales in which dancing must be quelled, there is still a level of irony. Even if the Underground Kingdom is destroyed, the reader delights in the women's adventures there each time the tale is read or heard. Even if Cinderella doesn't dance any more after marriage, the descriptions of her dress and her own nightly adventures are the most thrilling part of her story (and frankly, her forbidden journeys to the ball are not that unlike the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the twelve are hardly ever punished either for their so-called "indiscretions"). The very stories themselves betray their morals, as listeners delight in what is officially termed bad by the "lesson" we supposedly learn afterwards.

And, one story I wish Sampson had touched on is the ballet "Giselle." It's technically not a fairy tale, but neither is "Wizard of Oz" which she referred to many times. The haunting plot involves a group of Wilis, or supernatural women who force men to dance to their deaths. The idea of Wilis came from a passage by Heinrich Heine, but they are related to the Vila, a Slavic version of nymphs. In the context of the ballet, the women are said to be jilted lovers, and that is why they prey on men. So in a way, although they are the villains, the actions they perform reflect the original wrong, done to them by men-sort of like a gender-swapped version of King Shahryar in 1001 Nights, killing women because his first wife cheated on him. The very image of men being danced to death is a contrast to the popular tales referenced earlier, in which women's dancing is primarily described and their partners merely an afterthought.

How do you see the role of dancing in fairy tales?

Illustrations-"Twelve Dancing Princesses" by Kay Nielsen, "Red Shoes" by Anne Andersen, "Cinderella"-A.H. Watson, "Juniper Tree," by LBarrett, Wilis from "Giselle"-the SF Ballet

Who's the Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty?

One of the fun things about the Sleeping Beauty ballet for fairy tale fans is the fact that the finale incorporates several fairy tale characters-Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Cinderella, even Bluebeard (I personally wouldn't want him at my wedding...but I guess the characters have learned their lesson about leaving evil people out of celebrations after Carabosse cursed Aurora?). (Although after I wrote that, my source says Bluebeard makes an appearance, but I can't find any other evidence that he's a character in this ballet.)

But one of the most famous dance variations is the Bluebird, above (starts at aobut 3:30). The dance has captivated audiences for generations, as the male dancer leaps and jumps so effortlessly it appears he really can flutter about like a bird. But who is the Bluebird?

Jack Anderson provides an answer in his nytimes article Who's That Bluebird? And Who's That White Cat? (You know you write about fairy tale characters too often when your fingers keep wanting to type "Bluebeard" over "Bluebird"...). Although the ballet was originally created in Russia, the choreographer, Marius Petipa, was French, hence the usage of all the French fairy tales. Many were Charles Perrault's famous stories, including "Sleeping Beauty" itself, but Blue Bird and the White Cat are characters from Madame Catherine d'Aulnoy's tales. Anderson summarizes the Blue Bird tale for us (read the full text here):

In "The Bluebird," a king marries a malicious woman after his wife dies. The new queen persecutes Florine, the king's kindhearted daughter, and promotes her own wicked daughter, Truitonne, whose face resembles that of a trout and whose conduct is decidedly fishy. The queen wishes the young King Charmant, who loves Florine, to marry Truitonne. Because he refuses to do so, Truitonne's wicked fairy godmother condemns him to be a bluebird. Florine is locked in a tower, where she is discovered by Charmant, who visits her nightly. The Bluebird pas de deux presumably shows Charmant happily fluttering in the presence of Florine. 

 When a spy sees the bird caressing Florine with his claw and kissing her with his bill, the queen places sharp swords on every resting place near the tower so Charmant can no longer easily alight. Fortunately, the people of the kingdom rebel against the queen. Florine, released from the tower, searches for her beloved bird and, after terrible hardships, finds him. He regains human form, but the fish-faced Truitonne becomes a pig -- a linguistically appropriate metamorphosis, for her name derives from the French words "truite" (trout) and "truie" (sow).

Also for fun, here's some more fairy tale variations: Red Riding Hood and Wolf, Puss in Boots and White Cat, Cinderella and Prince:
Illustration
Bluebird clip-Bolshoi Ballet, 2011
Fairy Tale clip

Disney's Live Action Nutcracker

Not technically a fairy tale, but many of you may also find this of interest: Disney will be making a live action version of Nutcracker along with remakes of many of their classic cartoons already in the works.

 "Tchaikovsky’s timeless Nutcracker ballet provides the latest chapter from the Big Storybook of Public Domain Fairytales for Disney to revive. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney plans to craft a live-action treatment of the Christmastime fantasia, adhering faithfully to the mold from which the highly lucrative Alice in Wonderland was cast. This film will also place an ordinary girl into a dreamlike world plagued by warring armies, in this instance comprised of mice and gingerbread men. (Which hardly seems like a fair matchup — mice are nothing if not the natural predator of food.) In accordance with the ballet and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story, Clara will assume her station as princess of this magical plane, and help to bring about peace between the opposing factions. Unlike the ballet, there will presumably be dialogue."

Even though I'm kind of obsessed with "Nutcracker", I'm not sure I'm even excited about the idea of Nutcracker being turned into some epic fantasy war movie. I may change my mind around Christmastime though? I never did see Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".

Joffrey's Cinderella

Joffrey's 2006 Cinderella

I thought this review in the Chicago Tribune on the Joffrey Ballet doing Sir Frederick Ashton's adaptation of the ballet "Cinderella" was interesting. Ballet and Cinderella fans alike might enjoy reading about the challenges of the dancers playing the stepsister roles, and attempting to make them more than just comic relief.

Rory Hohenstein and David Gombert rehearsing their stepsister roles

An excerpt: (emphasis mine)

"Male roles inspired by British pantos, the Stepsisters epitomize the ballet's gentle, hopeful vision. Quarrelsome, jealous, deliciously foolish, they must go beyond comic relief. "At the end of the ballet," says Wheater, "we have to have some feeling for them, empathy for them."

Dancing the bossy older Stepsister for the first time, paired with returning Joffrey member David Gombert as the younger one, Rory Hohenstein says that at first he was intimidated by the part: He'd heard "legendary stories of some of my friends' really funny performances." Plus he knew how important it was to get these character roles, so crucial to the story, right.

However, it's "harder to get your point across when you're covered in ridiculous clothing," he says. Despite being men in dresses, the Stepsisters are coached not to be too over-the-top. That can be "a hard line to walk — literally in heels," Hohenstein says. "You're jumping around in them so much, at the end of the day your feet hurt. But sometimes it's easier in the heels because you naturally walk a different way."

Stravinsky's Petroushka: Inspired by Steadfast Tin Soldier?

Stravinsky's "Petroushka" was his second ballet, which premiered in 1911, telling the story of a puppet caught on the unfortunate end of a love triangle. I've never heard anyone compare it to the plot of Hans Christian Andersen's "Steadfast Tin Soldier," but to me the similarities are obvious.

Nijinsky, the famous dancer who played the original Petroushka in 1911

Stravinsky's first ballet, "Firebird," was inspired by traditional Russian fairy tales. It's possible that he would have drawn from another fairy tale for his next ballet, but as he was stretching his music in more modern ways, he could have been even subconsciously influenced by Andersen's 1838 fairy tale, which which was also a less traditional story. He was also in the middle of composing a piece based on the Andersen fairy tale, "The Nightingale."

Marcia Brown

Looking at both stories, you can see the parallels:
"Steadfast Tin Soldier" features three main characters; a toy tin soldier, the ballerina he is in love with, and the jack-in-the-box that is his rival.
"Petroushka" features another toy, this time a puppet, who is also in love with a ballerina, and the puppet Moor who is his rival.

Tuscon production of "Petroushka" 

The Tin Soldier embarks on a journey when he falls out of the window, which ends up with him back in the same nursery room, by chance. Petroushka breaks out of his cell to rescue the ballerina from the Moor's seduction, but she does not want to be rescued-the Moor chases Petroushka outside and he finds himself back at the Shrovetide Fair where we first met him performing.

Set for the Shrovetide Fair, by Benois

1911 "Petroushka" souvenir program

Both stories are also characterized by the helplessness of the main characters, and their unfortunate ends. Neither of them can gain the love of the ballerina they desire, and in the end they both die. The Tin Soldier was inexplicably thrown into the fire by the boy who owned him, and the Moor killed Petroushka in front of the Shrovetide Fair crowd. The charlatan (who owns the puppets) showed the crowd that he was just a lifeless puppet, but after the crowd leaves, Petroushka's ghost is seen shaking his fist at the Charlatan, but then collapses on top of the puppet both, "his arms swinging to and fro in the night."

Final scene in "Steadfast Tin Soldier," Marcia Brown

Stravinsky wrote in his autobiography that "in composing the music, I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios. The orchestra in turn retaliates with menacing trumpet blasts. The outcome is a terrific noise which reaches its climax and ends in the sorrowful and querulous collapse of the poor puppet."  From there, the ballet was further developed by Diaghilev, creator of the Ballet Russes and commisioner of Stravinsky's ballets, and Alexandre Benois, the production designer. Given that Andersen's fairy tales had become famous world wide by the dawn of the 20th century, it's likely that at least one of the men who worked on the ballet would be familiar with the earlier fairy tale. Again, it could have been subconcsious influence, or it could have been coincidence-but the similarities are quite striking.

Design for street dancer by Benois

The Red Shoes Film

In my last post I discussed the Andersen fairy tale The Red Shoes, which has since been made into a ballet film. From 1948, it still has many fans and was a groundbreaking movie at the time.

From a fairy tale perspective, I think it's very interesting how the focus of the tale shifted from Andersen to Hollywood. Andersen's tale is clearly a morality story, cautioning young girls against disobedience, especially in the form of vanity; with the only cure being extreme piety.

When you transport the story into the ballet world, the emphasis on vanity almost becomes obsolete. The whole dance form is very unnatural and painful-to move in your legs in perfect turnout and dance on the tips of your toes is counter intuitive and requires years of disciplined training (and often bloody feet, which also hearkens back to several fairy tales). Yet this is also why ballet is so fascinating to watch, and why it goes perfectly with fantasy and fairy tale stories; the dancers really do appear otherworldly and fairy-like. In a world of painful shoes and impractical tutus, condemning a pair of shoes for being a certain color is hardly relevant.

The film centers around a dancer, Vicky, who is cast as the lead in a ballet based on the fairy tale "The Red Shoes." The summary from Imdb: Under the authoritarian rule of charismatic ballet impressario Boris Lermontov, his proteges realize the full promise of their talents, but at a price: utter devotion to their art and complete loyalty to Lermontov himself. Under his near-obsessive guidance, young ballerina Victoria Page is poised for superstardom, but earns Lermontov's scorn when she falls in love with Julian Craster, composer of "The Red Shoes," the ballet Lermontov is staging to showcase her talents. Vicky leaves the company and marries Craster, but still finds herself torn between Lermontov's demands and those of her heart.

Thus the conflict has gone from obedience/humility vs. vanity, to love vs. career. This dilemma is one that many modern people can relate to, and is also especially true of ballet, which is such a demanding career.

But the image of a pair of shoes that has a mind of its own, that is dangerous and can lead someone down a path that can destroy their life, is still present in both stories. Yet I think audiences of the movie tend to see the conflicts less of something that was Vicky's fault, and more of her being caught in a very difficult situation. We are intrigued by the creepy idea of shoes with a death wish, and so the fairy tale lives on, yet now in a story more appropriate for a culture that seeks a different form of morality.

Keeping the story and ballet relevent to more current audiences, the ballet was featured throughout season 2 of the Australian ballet t.v. show Dance Academy (available on Netflix Instant Play! In case you can't tell this is pretty much where I get all of my entertainment). As the main character preps the solo for an audition, we are told that what sets this excerpt apart from others is the need for the dancer to have emotional maturity-she needs to portray real grief as well as good technique. I'm not sure what real dancers think of this solo-is it really challenging? Do you really have to have more grief than most other solos? Many ballets have tragic storylines so I suspect this was something overemphasized for the sake of the show. However, it did bring the story to light for a new generation, as the fairy tale keeps being reimagined for an ever changing world.

Also, has anyone seen the 2005 Korean Red Shoes film? It has pretty good reviews but also seems REALLY dark.

Sleeping Beauty and the Royal Ballet

Sleeping Beauty is on everyone's minds because of "Maleficent" and I've been a little obsessed with ballet lately. The association of fairy tales with ballet is probably one of the reasons fairy tales have become associated with little girls and fluff, but it's just so ironic. I like to watch documentaries about ballet dancers, their daily life, and behind the scenes. Ballet is one of the most challenging professions in the world and the dancers literally devote their lives to it. What might seem so simple-a basic plie or tendue-is actually incredibly difficult to do with perfect balance, turnout, and grace.

The same analogy could be made with fairy tales themselves-though they are often made light of, there is so much more depth to the stories, and their history usually shocks people who study fairy tales for the first time.

The first video is about the technical challenges of the dancing in this ballet, especially for Aurora in the first Act. Below is a fascinating look at the history of this ballet in the Royal Opera House-the Royal Ballet used Sleeping Beauty as their return to the stage after World War II. As a story of good defeating evil, and of reawakening, it was a very deliberate choice. You can also hear the 2014 cast discuss their roles.

Scottish Ballet: Hansel and Gretel

Once Upon a Blog covered this back in July, but I just found a review for the Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel via Kingdom of Style. Seems like a great opportunity if you live in that region of the world, there are performances through early February. Click through to read the full review, but from the images below it seems like total eye candy. I love how they used giant sets and props to make the adult dancers seem like children.

They made a rather significant plot change, that instead of being abandoned by their parents, Hansel and Gretel sneak off by themselves to rescue their friends, for children in their village have been disappearing. The children are thus courageous heroes, and they avoid making the parents evil. I feel like I've noticed this being a pattern in several retellings of Hansel and Gretel, taking the blame away from the parents. Is it just another example of altering fairy tales to make them more and more child-friendly, or is it a positive way to avoid negative stereotypes of mothers/stepmothers in particular in fairy tales?

Fairy Tales in the Russian Ballet

Interwoven through the history of Russian Ballet are ballets based on fairy tales and folklore. Early on, Russian folk tales provided the source for plots because it provided a sense of national pride for the audience. Ballets were based on fairy tales that are little known today, such as The Little Hump-Backed Horse, a well-known fairy tale (at the time) by Yershov, premiered in 1864, or The Goldfish, inspired by Pushkin's fairy tale. The former was a success and the latter not, although both tales were altered very much from their original sources (sound familiar?). In ballets, plot is only a part of the formula that makes it successful or not-much is also dependant on the music, the choreography, and the quality of dancers themselves. However, understanding the plot and its source was nonetheless important. The 1867 ballet The Fern's success was credited not to  Sokolov's talents in choreography, which were not outstanding, but the fact that he had a "better understanding of Russian folklore."

Scene from The Goldfish, 1905

In 1877 we come to the ballets which are well-known and loved still by Tchaikovsky, starting with Swan Lake. The element of a swan maiden is a popular theme in many Russian fairy tales, and the creators of the ballet adapted the specific plot to suit their purposes. It is Tchaikovsky's music that is recognized as the most successful element in this production. His "portrayal of the inner spiritual state of the heroes through music was an important discovery destined to turn over a new leaf in the history of ballet music and upset customary ballet cliches."

Later, in 1888, Tchaikovsky was invited to write music for another ballet based on a fairy tale-this time using Perrault's Sleeping Beauty as the source. Ironically, the choreographer, Marius Petipa, didn't like using magical elements and fairy tales in his ballets, as he thought they weren't serious enough. However, he was ordered by the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters to use Sleeping Beauty and he transformed it to become something he wanted to work on.

Maria Petipa as The Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty

Again, critics hail Tchaikovsky's music as transforming the history of ballet. Academician Boris Asafiev claimed that Sleeping Beauty was "a new form of musical-choreographic action." Asafiev claims that through the progression of the music, you can even trace the princess' maturing and growing up. As a musician I wish Roslavleva went into more detail on this one...

In 1892 production started on The Nutcracker*, with a detailed program provided by Petipa, but due to illness, the project was taken over by Lev Ivanov. Tchaikovsky's music suggested "much broader vistas and a greater range of human feelings." Ivanov used the music as his primary inspiration, portraying, in Asafiev's words, "the ripening soul of a little girl, at first playing with dolls, and then arriving at the dawn of love through dreams of a brave and manly hero-in other words the process of the 'education of sentiments'".

Scene from The Nutcracker, Mariinsky Theatre, 1892

It seems that the combination of fairy tales and music created a new direction for ballets. No longer just pretty entertainment, ballet could be a deeper exploration of humanity. Fairy tale scholars would later see the tales as exploring the human subconscious, revealing universal stages of human development. Afasiev's descriptions of the music indicate that this process was already beginning in Russian ballet.

Also unrelated to fairy tales, but I find it fascinating to see how far ballet technique has come in the past couple hundred years. Even in the late nineteenth century, double pirouettes en pointe were considered a great rarity, whereas they're now considered standard for any ballet student. That partly has to do with the development of specialized pointe shoes, but ballet is so different now than it was then.

*No, the Nutcracker is not technically a fairy tale, but I really really like it
**All information taken from Natalia Roslavleva's book, Era of the Russian Ballet: 1770-1965

Raven Girl Ballet

An article in the Chicago Tribune about a new fairy tale ballet caught my attention. "Raven Girl" is based on a book by Audrey Niffenegger. At first I was suspicious that it would be just a fantasy book that is mildly similar to fairy tales and thus earned itself the article title. But although it's definitely a modern story, I was intrigued by the interview with Niffenegger and how she did relate what she had learned about fairy tales to the writing of her novel. For example, on transformation:

"Fairy tales, you know, almost always feature some kind of transformation. There are so many people and animals in fairy tales that are either between states, or have been turned into something against their will."

The story is "about a postman who marries a raven, their union producing a daughter who looks human (at least at first) but feels like a bird underneath the skin"-which is very reminiscent of selkie stories.

Niffenegger also says about her research for the story:

"So I started reading a lot of fairy tales, and one thing that struck me was how matter-of-fact they are. People are seldom surprised in fairy tales, or if they are, they rapidly adapt. And I thought that whatever happens in my story, it should be surprising to the audience, but not surprising to the people it's happening to."

The ballet premiered in London this spring.

Classical versions of Ugly Duckling

I was watching the show Dance Academy on Netflix instant play because I will watch pretty much any ballet movie or show that has ever been created, and they referenced variations from Ugly Duckling, so I had to try and find it online.

Didn't find that many details-wikipedia says a company in Florida did it in 2009, but I couldn't find that on youtube. I did find these excerpts from Redding Dance Theater:

I don't know if the two versions even have the same music or choreography, or just inspired by the same story. Either way, when people combine ballet and fairy tales, I drop everything and watch them.

Then I also found this soprano solo by Prokofiev. Normally I LOVE all things Prokofiev, but to be honest this music wasn't really doing it for me. Other students at my Conservatory probably would have judged me for saying that, but...there you have it.


And then just for fun, I grew up watching this 1939 Disney version of the Ugly Duckling

I remember finding it slightly traumatizing. I felt so sorry for that little duckling. Mainly the big wooden duck at 5:38 terrified me as a young child...especially that moment at 6:21 when it's coming at him! And then his pathetic crying right afterwards! Maybe it's just childhood emotions but I teared up just now, rewatching it...

Also, for fans of musicals, I was in Honk! in high school. It's a pretty cute family musical. Interesting fact as I look back: I was in 6 musicals in school, and three of them happened to be versions of fairy tales.

Cinderella ballet

I am back from vacation-I had a wonderful time in Washington D.C., despite the weather being too cold for the cherry blossoms that we were supposed to see!

My trip did involve some fairy tale-related things-most exciting for me was being able to read the Villeneuve version of Beauty and the Beast, in French, at the Library of Congress! (And yes, I realize how nerdy I am for saying that! Not that that's any surprise to anyone reading this blog...) I had come across discrepancies in English translations that I've blogged about before and wanted to find out what Villeneuve really said. More on that later-I was actually surprised at what I found-but do any of you readers know French well enough to translate parts of it for me? Let me know in the comments if you're willing to help out! I know enough to find which part of the story I was in and scan certain pages, but going from here my current plan is to use an online translator which is obviously not the most reliable.

But I also got to see the Washington Ballet do Cinderella!

One thing that really surprised me in the ballet version is that they took out the stepmother and replaced her with a weak father character. I didn't like it-it really did nothing to improve gender stereotypes. The father is usually absent from the plot, implying he is weak or uncaring, in most versions of Cinderella, yet he is never given blame for allowing his second wife or stepdaughters to terrorize his own flesh and blood. Yet here you feel even less sympathy for either Cinderella or her father, because with two against two there's no reason they should allow themselves to be bullied around for so long.

After very briefly skimming through Surlalune's Cinderella Tales from Around the World (brief skimming is all I could do at the moment from a book that is almost 800 pages of text!) I did find that in some versions of the story, the father is present and more evil, but I believe it's very rare to have that particular cast of characters (no stepmother, weak but good father, stepsisters, and heroine) in any version but the ballet.

But other than that, I LOVED it. I love Prokofiev's music and classical ballet. The dancers who played the stepsisters (who are male) on the night I saw it were very funny-it would be a good ballet for someone who doesn't have much experience in classical dance, because it's light and humorous and the plot is pretty familiar, with the additions of some extra fairies to highlight more of the soloists.

 

Also, our seats were in the very front but on the end of the row, so we were very close to the dancers. You don't realize from far away how often the dancers accidentally bump into each other when changing formations, and you could hear the children counting along to the music. We could also see the dancers in the wings-prepping for their entrances, stretching, and joking around with each other. I'm always fascinated by the world behind the scenes of ballet, so that was really fun.

History of Nutcracker Ballet

I get to see the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker today, a favorite Christmas tradition of mine! This short video provides a brief history of the Nutcracker ballet, and how ETA Hoffman's story became a holiday classic. From dancechanneltv

For more on the history of the story of the Nutcracker, you can read my posts from years past on ETA Hoffman's story and Dumas' version

Ballet and fairy tales-article

In my last post I shared my love for ballet combined with fairy tales. For me, the combination of beautiful dancing, costumes, music, and story is such a powerful and emotional experience. I found an online article that highlights the importance of fairy tale plots within the history of ballet. Here's an excerpt:

"Fairy‐tale ballets have drawn upon four main sources: fairy bride legends (for example, Swan Lake and Giselle), folk fairy tales (Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty), literary fairy tales (The Nutcracker, The Red Shoes), and stories of toys, puppets, or automata that come to life (Coppélia, Petrushka). During its romantic period—from the 1830s to the 1850s—ballet was dominated by the fairy bride motif. Towards the end of the 19th century—and again in the 1940s—folk tales, ‘live toy’ stories, and literary fairy tales (particularly those of Hoffmann and Andersen) became common sources of inspiration. A more recent development, dating from the 1980s, has been an ironic, revisionist approach to familiar fairy tales, often with psychological or strongly ideological overtones."

Click here to read the full article.

Most people are familiar with the Tchaikovsky ballets, but slightly less known is Prokofiev's "Cinderella", one of my all time favorite musical versions of a fairy tale. Here is the Royal Ballet and the pas de deux between the Prince and Cinderella:

And here is the Bolshoi and the midnight scene. Listen for the the musical clock that starts around 1:45-I love using this when teaching music to children! Kindergarteners love to listen for the clock and then count the number of chimes to see if it's midnight, they get really into it!

Swan Lake and gender perceptions

I saw Swan Lake this weekend and it was enchanting. Got me thinking once again about the story. Though the plot pulled very loosely from a few existing tales, it was basically created for the ballet itself. Given that it reflected the values of a few men in 1895, the gender roles in the ballet are very cliche. In fact, I found myself bored with Odette and Siegfried's characters-Siegfried spends the vast majority of his time looking perplexed, or trying to find Odette, who looks scared and woeful the whole time. My favorite part was Odile, who has not only the flashiest moves but at least looks like she enjoys dancing.

From this site, by Aaron Green:

"We do know that Tchaikovsky had much control over the stories content. He and his colleagues both agreed that the swan represented womanhood in its purest form. The stories and legends of swan-maidens date as far back as ancient Greece; when the Greek god Apollos was born, flying swans circled above their heads. Legends of swan maidens can also be found in The Tales of the Thousand and One Nights, Sweet Mikhail Ivanovich the Rover and The Legend of the Children of Lir. "

So I guess according to Tchaikovsky and his colleagues, "womanhood in its purest form" is a fragile and powerless creature, with no real personality or depth, defined by being a victim (Ironically, Tchaikovsky was a pretty fragile creature himself-more on that here.)
This view of women is frowned upon by most people in Western culture today. The ballet has been reinterpreted by Matthew Bourne with a corps of male swans, challenging preconceived notions (this is the production Billy Elliot stars in, if you saw the movie). Bourne said, "The idea of a male swan makes complete sense to me. The strength, the beauty, the enormous wingspan of these creatures suggests to the musculature of a male dancer more readily than a ballerina in her white tutu." It's true that the power of the male dancer is extremely impressive-while the female can acheive the affect of defying gravity by dancing en pointe, the male can do so simply by the strength of his jumps, seeming to linger in the air for longer than humanly possible.

Then of course there's the Mercedes Lackey novel, Black Swan, which I've mentioned multiple times before, but I kept thinking of Lackey's compelling characters as I watched the ballet. Though the prisoners of Von Rothbart are still victims, Lackey's females have depth and dimension and her unique take on Odile's character is just wonderful.

The original ballet ended with a tragic ending, and each production comes up with its own. I think happy endings are the most prevalent these days. Although, listening to the music-the famous minor theme is major at the end, it seems hard to believe it could accompany the death of any of the main characters.

Dumas' Nutcracker

Image from here

Last year I did a post on the original E.T.A. Hoffman story that inspired the ballet The Nutcracker. This year I read the Dumas version, which I knew was based on the Hoffman, but excpected to see an evolution from the Hoffman to the Dumas to the ballet. I was surprised by how similar Dumas' version was to Hoffman's, and even wondered why he bothered to rewrite it in the first place if he wasn't going to change anything significant. This site says it was because Hoffman's tale was considered to morbid for kids so Dumas made it more family friendly. Wikipedia calls the Dumas story a "somewhat watered-down revision." Surlalune featured a book that includes both versions plus an introduction by Jack Zipes, which I would love to read, but unfortunately isn't available to me at the moment.

Westside Ballet School

I don't see Dumas' version as being any different in child-friendliness or morbidness, because the plot is the same, other than he did pare down some of the descriptions and extra details. The only interesting addition I found in Dumas was an explanation of how Drosselmeier lost his eye on his travels, attempting to find the nut Krakatuk, because Drosselmeier almost always has an eye patch in the ballet versions.

Pennsylvania Ballet

Here is the description of Marie finding the Nutcracker, first from Hoffman:

"Objection, considerable objection, might, perhaps, have been taken to him on the score of his figure, for his body was rather too tall and stout for his legs, which were short and slight; moreover, his head was a good deal too large. But much of this was atoned for by the elegance of his costume, which showed him to be a person of taste and cultivation. He had on a very pretty violet hussar's jacket, knobs and braid all over, pantaloons of the same, and the loveliest little boots ever seen even on a hussar officer-fitting his little legs just as if they had been painted on them. It was funny, certainly, that dressed in this style as he was he had a little, rather absurd, short cloak on his shoulders, which looked almost as if it were made of wood, and on his head a cap like a miner's. But Marie remembered that Godpapa Drosselmeier often appeared in a terribly ugly morning jacket, and with a frightful-looking cap on his head, and yet was a very very darling godpapa."

Now from Dumas:

"His body was too long and big for the miserable little thin legs which supported it, and his head was so enormous that it was all out of proportion to the rest. He wore a braided frock-coat of violet-coloured velvet, all frogged and covered with buttons, and trousers of the same material, as well as shiny boots. But there were two things which seemed strange compared with the rest of his dress-one was an ugly narrow cloak made of wood which hung down rather like a pigtail from the nape of his neck to the middle of his back, and the other was a wretched little cap, such as some mountaineers wear, upon his head. But Marie, when she saw these two oddities which seemed so out of keeping with the rest of his dress, remembered that her godfather himself wore on top of his yellow frock-coat a collar of no better appearance than the wooden cloak belonging to the little man, and that the doctor often covered his own bald head with an ugly cap quite unlike all the other ugly caps in the world."

This is a good example of the difference between the versions. Minor detail and wording differences, but anything significant has been carried through both. In this instance Dumas' writing isn't even that much more simplified. So I don't really see why other sources are so insistent upon the fact that the ballet plot is taken from the Dumas-in terms of plot his and Hoffman's stories are nearly identical, and the ballet plot has definitely taken on its own characteristics which differ slightly from production to production but are, overall, universally the same.

Swan Lake Images

I was looking for an image for my last post of Von Rothbart from Swan Lake, and found these images of Yolanda Sonnabend's designs for the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake, and they were all so spectacular I wanted to share them in a separate post.