Masha, Marie, or Clara?

To my zealous audience,
As we are approaching the wonderful time of year filled with joy, music and happiness I have decided that I will write about the one thing in ballet that represents christmas like nothing else. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Notice how I said the name of the composer instead of the choreographer, well, that is because I think that the thing that makes this ballet so wonderful is the music. Such a gorgeous score written by non other that the master of music himself, Tchaikovsky. If you haven't seen the Nutcracker before then today is your lucky day, because I will be providing a brief summary of the Ballet, and hopefully after you will be wanting to see it. I know I see it every year, it's almost a tradition, well I best get started...

"This is a special evening for Clara, she is about to receive the gift of a dream..."

-Anonymous

I don't think anybody could sum it all up better, it is true, even if Clara received a simple Nutcracker, with it came a fantastic dream, that seamed like reality.

Here is a photo of Clara, this
was taken form:
http://braodwayworld.com

 It was cozy Christmas Eve at the Stahlbaum's house, there was a Christmas Tree, ornaments, beautiful lights, and mistletoe in the centre of it all. Young Clara and Fritz were so excited for it was the day of the Annual Stahlbaum Christmas Party, all of their friends and family would soon be arriving. Finally the party began and everyone was having a great time, that is until a hooded black figure came in, it quite scared Fritz, though Clara knew that it was simply their godfather Uncle Drosellmeyer. It didn't take long and the party had resumed as though nothing had happened, but once again Drosellmeyer interrupted the party, for he wanted to present his gifts to the children. Fritz received a beautiful drum, and Clara got the best of all, a Nutcracker. It was simply gorgeous, she danced with it  all night, that is until Fritz managed to steal, he then proceeded to break it. Clara was devastated, therfore her uncle mended it with a handkerchief, then his nephew made a bed for him right under the Christmas Tree. Eventually everyone grew tired, and decided to go home thanking the Stahlbaum's for their wonderful party. When everyone was gone Clara went to sleep right beside her Nutcracker under the Christmas Tree. At around midnight she awoke abruptly, to find herself shrinking! Or was everything around her growing? She was surrounded by mice, as big as her, the biggest of all was the mouse king. But it wasn't just these mice that were strange, her Nutcracker was alive, and fighting the mouse king, unfortunately he didn't do so well and was now captured by them in a corner. Clara, overcome with anger, picked up her slipper and threw at the mouse king, he was stunned, and the Nutcracker managed to escape, the mice scurried away. Clara was sure she was dreaming and decided to go back to bed. But it wasn't long before she was in this dream again, this time her bed had turned into a gorgeous red sleigh that led them to the land of the Snowflakes. 

Here is the snowflake scene from The Nutcracker
This photo was taken from:
http://web.pacific.edu 

They were warmly welcomed by the snowflakes, that were now dancing for them, once they were finished Clara and the Nutcracker continued on, this time to the land of sweets. Here they are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy, they told her about the night's recent events, and she was proud of Clara's bravery, and the Nutcracker's heroism. Therefore she decides to bring them into the candy castle and starts a festival. Hot Coco comes to life and dances to the sounds of trumpets and castanets. Then coffee comes, and they dance to an arabian song, later mandarin tea, who dance to the sound of Chinese Flutes. This is just the beginning, Matroishkas (russian dolls) come and dance to a Russian Trepak, then 10 little gingerbreads come out of Mother Ginger's skirt, as well as Merlitons, and finally to the sound of a harp, the flowers enter and dance the waltz of the flowers. It is the most beautiful music Clara has ever heard, for the conclusion of this perfect dream The Sugar Plum Fairy gets up a starts to dance a pas de deux with the Nutcracker Prince. At the end all the performers come to see Clara and the Nutcracker Prince of. As they are leaving Clara tells the Nutcracker,  "I wish this adventure would never end" the Nutcracker tells her it won't for those who believe it actually happened. Clara wakes up in the morning with the Nutcracker in her hands, and everything is returned to normal, everything except for Clara, and her wonderful gift from her godfather, the Nutcracker.

Here is a photo of the Waltz of the Flowers,
this photo was taken from:
http://nytimes.com

That would be a wonderful summary of an American/Canadian, The Nutcracker, though in countries such as Russia, and some countries in Europe Clara's name is different, in Russian it would be pronounced Misha, though if people were to perform it here in North America, and Europe it would probably be pronounced Marie. Other than that the main plot is still the same, a fantastic story, that definitely puts you in the mood of Christmas, I had so much fun writing this! 

See you next time,

The Bloggy Ballerina