Wednesday, January 18, 1984

 

‘THE OTHER PRESS

page 9

 

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Photos and text
by
Sean Valentini.

 

Something always bothers
me around Christmas time,
it took me a few years to
figure out what it was, but |
think | finally understand.
It’s my inability to experi-
ence Christmas the way |
did when | was a child. Now
please don’t refer me to the
Psych Dept. as | am aware
that this feeling is not un-
ique to myself. Most people
I’ve talked to feel the same
way. It seems the older you
get the harder it becomes to
experience that child-like
feeling that is best des-
cribed as magic. This ‘‘ma-
gic’’ can not be bought, and
it seems the harder we try to
recapture it the more elusive
it becomes. Occasionally,
however, it descends upon
us when we least expect it.

 

Such was the case last
December when | was given
the opportunity to photo-
graph the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet Company’s rehearsal
for the Nutcracker Ballet.
Ironically, this version of the
Nutcracker, choreographed
by John Neumeir, deals with
a child’s transition to adult-
hood.

The original ““Nut-
cracker’’ is based upon the
story The Nutcracker and
Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoff-
man. It is standard in the
repetoire of most ballet
companies. Neumeier’s_ in-
terpretation provides a
stronger story line than the
traditional version which is
usually considered a child’s
ballet.

Neumeier sets the ballet
at 12 year old Maria’s birth-
day party. Party guests in-
clude parents, aunts and
uncles, her brother Fritz,
and her sister Louise. Fritz
and Louise have _ invited
their own guests. Fritz in-
vites some cadets, one of
whom is the Captain named
Gunther, and it is Louise
who invites the ballet master
Droselmeier.

 

Gunther’s gift to Maria is
the Nutcracker which resem-
bles a toy soldier. Drossel-
meier presents her with bal-!
let slippers: as the party
continues Maria seems to
display an attraction for the
handsome Gunther, but she
is too young and shy and
does not tully understand
her feelings. When the par-
ty is over Maria is sent to
bed and everyone else is
soon to follow.

Maria is still excited so
she sneaks down stairs and
tries on the ballet slippers
which the mysterious Dros-
selmeier has given her.
Much to her  disappoint-
ment, she is unable to over-
come her childish awkward-
ness. Frustrated by those
new feelings and desires
that she is experiencing for
the first time, she falls

-asleep and in true Freudian

fashion she is able to resolve
her confusion in a dream.

In the dream she enters
the mysterious world of bal-
let accompanied by Drossel-
meier. She is able to dance
and to her delight Gunther
is present to accompany her.
Eor the first time she is able

 

to experience the grace that
her body is capable of.

In the second act, Dros-
selmeir leads Maria into a
theatre where she is able to
watch a variety of dances
ranging from a Russian folk
dance to a sensual Turkish
Delight as well as a Chinese
dance and the _ beautiful
Grande Pas de Deux, a
traditional Ballet danced by
Gunther and Maria’s sister
Louise.

Throughout the dream
Maria holds tight to her
nutcracker, the last vestige
of her childhood, which she
is unwilling to give up too
quickly. But there is some-
thing sad in the ending in
that we know that she is
awakened from her dream
she is no longer an innocent
child.

Neumeier undoubtedly
hoped that the audience
would see the ballet through
Maria who is still able to
regard the beauty of dance
with wonder and apprecia-
tion. He has taken a story
which was originally quite
weak and transformed it into
a tribute to the world of
ballet, and a farewell to the

 

innocence of youth.

Ballet is something that
everyone can appreciate. It
incorporates visual esthetics] _
and motion with music, and
even if you can’t appreciate
the beauty of Tchaikovsky’s
compositions, most ballet
companies travel with a
mixed repetoire which has
something for everyone. The
Royal Winnipeg’s mixed
repetoire also includes dan-
ces choreographed to popu-
lar sixties and early seven-
ties rock.

Photographing these dedi-
cated people who work so
hard to create what is per-
haps one of the most fascin-
ating expressions of art, |
couldn’t help but experience
the feeling that is so elusive,
that ‘‘magic’’ or wonder or
whatever you might call it.

The only thing worth say-
ing about ballet is go and
experience it, for as dance
critic Max Wyman has said,
“the language of pure
movement, like the  lan-
guage of pure music,doesn’t
convert. into words, and
things can be said in it that
cannot be said any other

ar

way...