Singing the Snowflakes

Photo by Richard Termine

By David Hsieh

In a ballet as full of magical moments as The Nutcracker, the Waltz of the Snowflakes may just be the most magical. Our heroine (Marie or Clara, depending on the version) just helped fend off the Rat King in an act of desperation. Then the wooden Nutcracker turns into a handsome cavalier to take her to a magical snow kingdom full of winter wonder. This moment of transformation with a sense of wonder is conveyed through every element of the staging. The scene shifts from domestic interior where rodents lurk to a forest covered in pristine white. The atmosphere changes from a real world to an imagined one. The dance style changes from social (and mime) to classical ballet on point. The characters change from kids to adults. And Tchaikovsky’s music suddenly adds in a vocal part—the only one in the entire score.

Design King—Richard Hudson Creates a New Beauty

The Nutcracker show curtain, designed by Richard Hudson.

by Mario R. Mercado

While it’s the final season to enjoy Alexei Ratmansky’s wondrous staging of The Nutcracker for American Ballet Theatre at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from December 12—21, happily, the production will live on in West Coast performances each December beginning in 2015. For audiences on both coasts, there is more happy news to celebrate as Ratmansky and the ballet’s designer Richard Hudson get set to collaborate again. This time it’s an all-new production of The Sleeping Beauty, premiering early March at the Segerstrom Center in Orange County, California and in New York City in May 2015.

Meet a Friend of BAM: Shelley

This month in Meet a Friend, we become acquainted with Shelley, a Prospect Heights local and, it turns out, a whiz with obscure dessert metaphors.

Member since: November 2012

Where are you from? What neighborhood do you live in now?
I grew up in Louisiana, moved around the US and abroad, and now live in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

If you had to describe BAM to someone who had never heard of us using only metaphors that involve dessert, what would you say?
If reality TV is like a candy bar (and don't get me wrong, I enjoy a candy bar from time to time and almost anything on HGTV) then BAM is like a mixed berry pie. There's a variety in there, but every bite is both indulgent AND good for you. And when you're a member, the pie basically pays for itself (or makes itself)? It's as if BAM becomes your grandmother. The one that makes you put down your phone and engage with the world and then serves you pie to help you cope with the new things you've learned. Thanks, BAMma.

If the world was ending and you could only save one Iconic BAM Artist, who would it be and why? 
Reggie Wilson [whose Moses(es) was at the BAM Harvey last week]. I hardly have to think about it. I saw him perform in his show A Revisitation earlier this year at New York Live Arts and was mesmerized. I feel confident he could tell a creation story to build a new world I'd want to live in.

How far would you travel to see a show or film you really loved? What show/film would it be?
If I could travel back in time, I'd see the live 1977 performance of The Nutcracker with Baryshnikov. I watched the video on repeat as a little girl and if I could see it live, the dream would come alive for me as it does for Clara in the story.

ABT—Off Center: Nutcracker Memories

Kenneth Easter and Justin Souriau-Levine. Photo: Gene Schiavone

Giant gingerbread cookies? Skiing rats? It’s all part of a dancer’s annual Nutcracker ritual. Here, four Nutcracker veterans share some of their fondest and funniest memories.

Rachel Moore, ABT CEO
During the mid-1980s, American Ballet Theatre performed The Nutcracker at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for three weeks each December. On New Year’s Eve, ABT dancers would take “liberties” with the choreography, with the idea that it would be a “Nutty Nutcracker.” One year, when I was a member of the corps de ballet and in the Snow Scene, Larry Pech, a member of the corps playing the role of one the Rats, made a special appearance. Dressed in his rat costume, Larry donned a pair of roller skates and ski poles, and went gliding through the snow scene, dodging us “Snowflakes.” It was a moment to remember!

You’re five and old enough to go out with Mommy

By Raphaele de Boisblanc

Jane before The Nutcracker

I am a staff member here at BAM. I’m also the mother of a five-year-old girl, Jane, and a two-year-old boy, Charles. I grew up in Paris and was lucky enough to see shows at an early age thanks to the many young audience programs that were offered by various theaters and concert halls. Performing arts have been part of my daily life thanks to my work, and when my daughter turned five (the minimum age to get into most venues in New York) I could not wait for our first outing together.

We started with Donka:A Letter to Chekhov at the BAM Harvey because I thought she would enjoy  the music, the movement, and the poetry of a nouveau cirque piece. She was scared—which at first made me ashamed of myself for taking her out—but also fascinated. At intermission she did not want to leave and we stayed til the curtain closed. The following day she asked me about the acrobats in the show. How come they didn’t hurt themselves? Were they real? Was the show real? I found her questions more challenging than I had expected, and I loved it. She forced me to think harder about what we had seen together.

Free Ticket+ Thursdays: The Nutcracker Edition

Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg in The Nutcracker. Photo by Gene Schiavone. © American Ballet Theatre. 

All rights reserved.

What you see above is something very special: footage from an actual Free Ticket+ Thursdays award presentation ceremony. Captured perfectly here is the exact moment the prize is handed over to the lucky winner, whose friends look on longingly in regret of not entering themselves. As you can see, we’ve spared no expense.

This could be you. All you have to do is visit us on Facebook and answer a simple question for a chance to win. If you still aren't convinced, this week’s prize is a Friends of BAM membership and tickets to see American Ballet Theatre’s presentation of The Nutcracker, which, strangely enough, features a scene exactly like this one. But pay no attention to that. Just concentrate on getting to Facebook and answering our question, lest you miss The Nutcracker and the mystery of what a sugar plum fairy really is stays forever unsolved.