Crack another Nut...

(before I get started... that title falls into the category of "things that sound dirty but aren't really" which may be a utilized when I start my non-dance related blog -- start looking forward to it)

For now... we discuss the excitement surrounding the final week of THE NUTCRACKER PROJECT... which for as long as I can remember has been our traditional lesson unit from Thanksgiving to Christmas Break. We learn the story. We watch videos to compare interpretations. We learn the characters and the theatrical gimmicks. We do barre exercises to the music and prepare for a listening test. They are encouraged to recognize the music in the variety of places it pops up .. the mall, elevators (a given), in movies and television commercials. And hence my new found wonder... what advertisement agency decided to use Sugar Plum Fairy Variation in the background to sell a truck with a tag line... "two ton Nutcracker" -- how did that sales pitch go? Wish I'd been there.. heck, wish I'd thought of it.

The kids finish off the project by creating their own Act Two divertissment. They interpret and dance about and have visions of themselves being every bit as graceful as the sugar plums that dance in their heads.

Here's how i give out the assignments to groups:
We will call this Nutcracker Astrology..instead of being born under the influence of a certain star... you're going to be typecast until you become a star.

If you are talented you get to dance Spanish -- counting in 6's instead of 8's is tricky, you can be proud and sophisticated
If you are truly a beginner but you are catching on to the ballet stuff , you are told to be a lady-like, and a little flirtatious and you will be a Mirliton (also known as Marzipan or Reed Flutes -- it helps if you can handle multiple personalities)
if you have a clever side to you and can pick up on cues in the music, you think fast and creative-- you get to dance Chinese, being quick and precise is your thing
if you aren't too graceful, you have a few skills, but prefer not to be bothered to think up too much original stuff .. start doing some kicks and knee bends... you will be a Russian. We might call you Trepak and someone else might call you "Peppermint" but you don't care -- you are going to bulldoze your way to the final note
If your a limited in your dance ability but you don't mind being the class clown..you guessed it, you will be assigned to Mother Ginger and you will dance around acting goofy and think that you are the stars of the class -- always relying on the old adage, "they're not laughing AT you, they're laughing WITH you." At least that's what your mom told you and you believed it.

A great once in a while I'll actually have a couple of kids who want to dance to Arabian... the slowest and dare I say it, sexiest of the dances in the Act Two stuff. I never tell the kids about that "sexy' part because I'd either have too many thinking they'd be perfect for the part or I'd get called into the principal for teaching inappropriate material. I always tell the students you have to be flexible and have lots of control to get that part in a professional company. Lost somewhere in all that description is a universal truth for us grown ups but I'm going to leave it you to decide exactly what I mean.

Another oddity that has occurred over the years is sometimes I'd have to give a group the Marche and tell them to pretend to be the toy soldiers -- this is for the group that has less imagination than the in-your-face Russians and less skill than the sweet but slow moving Mirlitons and generally they have NO personality so they can't be in Mother Ginger. -- These are the times when I've thought -- I've done all I can for you and you've only come so far... so I've given you the perfect part -- pretend to dance like a moving piece of wood... paint a smile on your face and follow your leader... And they usually use the tendu combination, march around each other do a couple of salutes and they finish feeling proud. Hey, whatever works.

I've never asked any group to do Dance of the Wall Flowers.. I mean, Waltz of the Flowers. Man, having danced it myself, that thing goes on forever ...and its just not interesting past the first twirl of the skirt. At least in Waltz of the Snowflakes.. you get to start with flurries and end with a blizzard... In Flowers you just go back and forth and forward and back and round and round and your feet have to move fast and your arms have to be graceful and your inspiration -- you're a BUD that opens to display your petals..a salute to majesty of horticulture. As I ponder this now as I have often done before when I had nothing better to do but overanalyzing 18th century ballets looking for absurd and obscure sociopolitical symbolism... I often get stuck at this same thought.. . What do flowers have to do with the Kingdom of the Sweets? I am haunted by an uneasy thought.. maybe the original waltzing flowers were the same evil, drug allusion thing that played out in the poppy field in the Wizard of Oz?

I shake off this disturbing thought and remember that there's nothing to worry about -- its just a ballet, tinkly music and tutus, where a strange, older man gives a little girl a gift which induces a dream in which her Christmas tree grows to enormous size, toys come to life and evil mice battle with them and then there's a little violence, somebody gets killed and then she gets carried off to a fantasy world...a place called, The Kingdom of the Sweets.. nothing sinister there.

But that's just for those of us who might be described as "thinking too much"

The Kingdom of the Sweets -- especially when interpreted by a bunch of first semester dance students is a delightful place to spend the holidays and I rest assured that neither a Witch nor the Rat King is going to fly over and sky-write "Surrender Clara" during our Act Two.

That is of course, unless i decide to write in a part for myself!