Masha, Marie or Clara... (continued)

Hello once again,

Here is the poster advertizing
the Goh Ballet's Nutcracker
This photo was taken from:
http://www.gohballet.com/

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! I sure know that mine went fantastically. On, Sunday December 19, my family and our friends went to go see the Goh Ballet's Nutcracker. It was very well done, and the sets and costumes were absolutely gorgeous! My favorite dancer was the sugarplum fairy, danced by a Principal Dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, named Sonia Rodriguez. I also thought that the Cavalier Prince, who was also from the National Ballet of Canada, was a very good dancer. Aside from the dancers from the *NBS, I thought that the Dew Drop, in the waltz of the flowers, was a great dancer, along with the snow queen. Both of these dancers were from the Goh.

Clara was played by a young girl, who I think was about 12 years old. She had very nice feet, though she often *sickled them, and I found that her upper body was a bit stiff, but she still did a very goo d job of the role. The Nutcracker Prince was played by a man, a bit older than the girl playing Clara. I also thought that he was a fairly good dancer. I thought that the Arabian Princess was a very good dancer, and she suited the role extremely well.

Here is a photo of Clara and Fritz, her little brother
This photo was taken from: http://poeticcrap.blogspot.com

My favorite part of the whole ballet was when the Sugarplum fairy and the Cavalier Prince performed their pas de deux, as well as their coda. It was such a joy to watch them perform. Their faces lit up the whole stage, and gave the audience the feeling that they were actually dancing in the Candy Castle, and that they were actually the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Cavalier Prince. Sonia Rodriguez performed her 32 fouettes very well, and mesmerized the audience, which is technically the reason for fouettes.

Overall, I thought that the production was very well done, and that the main dancers were fantastic. The costumes were also gorgeous as well as the sets, And every dancer performed their part well.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas Break,

The Bloggy Ballerina



*NBS stands for the National Ballet School of Canada, the NBS is an audition only school, that is located in Toronto, every year they go to cities all over North America, and hold auditions to see if anyone is eligible to come and study at their School. If you are selected you may go to their summer program, and after that you may or may not be invited to join their full time program. Once you have graduated from their program, you are technically strong enough to become a professional dancer, with their company. The company's name is the National Ballet of Canada.


*To sickle your foot, is to point your foot, but neither turn it out, or keep it straight. Instead you turn your ankle bone towards the inner part of your feet, and you point is. It may make your feet look better, and give people the idea that you have a very high arch, though in the long run, sickling your feet can cause many injuries, mainly in your knees.

This is what a sickled foot would look like
This photo was taken from:
http://atimetodanceblog.blogspot.com/

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