NYC Ballet -- The Nutcracker -- Dec. 24, 2015

The Nutcracker, both in conception and execution, seems to me as nearly flawless a work as the New York City Ballet has ever staged.

The Waltz of the Flowers is so dazzling in the sweep of its imagery and so concentrated in its means that one might analyze it for days without coming to the end of what Balanchine knows about choreography.

--Arlene Croce, The New Yorker, Jan. 21 1974

I now admit I was wrong, i.e., The Nutcracker is still a ballet for those who do not like ballet, but it is also for those who do!  Until Thursday I had not seen The Nutcracker for more than twelve years and I often made disparaging remarks about it, though mainly because too many people take their children to it and never to another ballet!  But I certainly can't blame the ballet or Balanchine for that and I retract those remarks; the ballet is magnificent not only in its choreography but in its story-telling, something I couldn't quite see when I was in thrall to Balanchine's brilliant abstract ballets. The magic -- the growing Christmas tree, the traveling bed, the battle with the mice, the nutcracker who comes alive, the flying sled -- that so entrances audiences is also in service to the dancing.  I had remembered the first act as having no dancing when, in fact, it has a great deal of dancing, mostly by the children but including the choreographed movement of the adults and the wonderful snowflakes dancing in the snow. The second act has one of the loveliest pieces of magic, when the cavalier (danced beautifully by Joseph Gordon) pulls the Sugarplum Fairy (Sara Adams) across the stage while she is still on point (he is able to do this because of a moving disk on the floor, but it all happens too quickly for one to figure out how the magic is done);  it also has delightful pure dancing, with The Waltz of the Flowers led by Tiler Peck doing lovely tour jetes.

I have written before how Balanchine's ballets capture the elegance and complexity of solos, pas de deux and large groups; in The Nutcracker Balanchine shows, through dancing, how people behave as a couple, alone, or in groups, but he also includes tributes to all ages, from grandfathers to young children, as well as different ethnic groups, occupations, and even the otherworldly in the form of angels; they exist all in a fantastic harmony.  My four-year-old daughter, my seventeen-year-old son, my wife and I, all enjoyed this incredibly beautiful combination of story-telling, dreams come to life and beautiful dancing.  I also must add the experience was helped immensely by the gorgeous Tschaikovsky music, conducted by Andrew Litton, the new music director of the New York City Ballet.