Review The Nutcracker
"Introdans performs the trendiest adaptation of The Nutcracker and features the most glitter." – de Volkskrant
Christmas isn’t complete without The Nutcracker—available in three versions. Introdans delivers the trendiest one, complete with the most glitter. Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen (41) shakes up Tchaikovsky’s musical structure in this modern Nutcracker.
by: Annette Embrechts – December 17, 2024
The dark days around Christmas undoubtedly mean one thing for dance lovers: Nutcracker season. This ballet fairy tale from 1892, originally choreographed by the Russians Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov to the magical composition of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (filled with tinkling on children’s instruments), can be seen in no less than three versions in the Netherlands.
The Charkiv City Opera & Ballet tours with the most traditional version, preserved through notebooks smuggled out of imperial Russia after the October Revolution. The Dutch National Ballet presents the (sold-out) reprise of the lavish Nutcracker & Mouse King (1996), featuring a Dutch-translated festive story in which daughter Clara receives a Nutcracker doll not at Christmas but during Sinterklaas. While Clara is captivated by the magic lantern of Uncle Drosselmeyer and his nephew, the doll transforms during her dreams into a charming prince fighting a legion of evil mice.
No Christmas or snowflakes in sight
The Arnhem-based company Introdans performs the trendiest adaptation: a winter ballet without associations of Christmas and snowflakes but with references to the original folk tale. In this version, Marie (Clara’s original name) cracks nuts to ward off evil spirits on her path toward (self)love and adulthood.
The Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen (41) thoroughly shuffles Tchaikovsky’s musical structure in this modern Nutcracker, created in 2014 for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. He merges Drosselmeyer, the Nutcracker, and the Prince right from the start into one hyperactive group of masked men who continuously transform. Teenage girl Marie (Nienke Wind, alternating with Juliette Jean) feels out of place at a ball and steps through the door of Drosselmeyer’s magical wardrobe. In the flower garden beyond, she discovers herself and her beloved (Giuseppe Calabrese, alternating with Alberto Tardanico). The rapid scene changes and flood of transforming figures make it hard to follow everything. There’s little room to let chemistry develop between the characters. Abandoning logic works better.
Swing and slapstick
The Introdans dancers throw themselves into the choreography with bravado, where swing competes with slapstick. The extravagant costumes and glamorous set design by the Bulgarian-French fashion duo On aura tout vu are especially striking. From the double chandelier and whimsical mirrors to the bright orange bolsters for masked men and the spiky puffed sleeves and hips for the women. It’s a whirlwind of black-and-white tailcoats, shiny sashes, and adorned bodies. As bells jingle and whistles blare, everyone dances under the lead of Drosselmeyer (a playful Vincenzo Turiano, alternating with Jillis Roshanali), weaving in and out of the sinister wardrobe, with subtle nods to queerness. This adds new nuts to crack in this ecstatic, glittering adaptation of The Nutcracker.