A sparkling, delightful holiday extravaganza
On Saturday afternoon, Alberta Ballet’s joyful new version of “The Nutcracker” burst onto the stage at the INB Performing Arts Center. Under the baton of Peter Dala, Alberta Ballet’s conductor and musical director, the Spokane Symphony performed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s luxurious score with aplomb.
In this beloved holiday classic, Klara receives a nutcracker doll that her mischievous brother breaks. That night Klara dreams that the nutcracker comes to life and battles for his life. After she saves him, he is transformed into a prince. To express his gratitude, he takes her to a world of childhood delights.
This production sports two new features: new choreography by award-winning choreographer Edmund Stripe and scenery and costumes by Emmy award-winning Zack Brown. This collaboration creates a magical holiday extravaganza.
The collaborative efforts of the choreographer and designer set the ballet in opulent Imperial Russia. The scenery, featuring beautifully painted drops and movable set pieces, is astonishing. It sparkles and shines. It is luscious and rich. It supports – rather than overshadows – the choreography. The costumes glow and glitter and flow with the movement. In particular, the animal costumes make the animals recognizable without impeding the dancing. The lighting is exquisite, and like the other technical elements, they complement the choreography.
Stripe refashioned the ballet to include additional dances for Klara and her nutcracker prince, for the children’s chorus and a greater role for Drosselmeyer, Klara’s godfather. These modifications add variety and an array of freshness.
Beyond expanding minor roles, Stripe diversifies the choreography for the corps de ballet in the Dance of the Snowflakes in Act I by infusing unison movements with assorted arm movements, sequential choreographic patterns and unique staging techniques. In Act II’s Dance of the Flowers, which typically is performed by ballerinas, he creates multiplicity by adding four male dancers to the eight ballerinas and then choreographing them in ever-changing ensembles.
In addition to the 26 members of the Alberta Ballet, “The Nutcracker” features 56 dancers from 11 Spokane-area ballet studios under the tutelage of Peggy Goodner Tan and Dodie Askegard of Ballet Arts Academy. The local dancers are charismatic. Lahna Vanderbush performs the role of Klara with clarity, lyricism, precise work en pointe and a fine dramatic flair. She partners with assurance with Patrick Doc as the nutcracker prince while exhibiting lovely extensions, effortless lifts and precise timing. The Spokane corps de ballet performs ensemble dances with discipline while exuding an air of childlike abandonment and pure delight.
The specialty dances in Act II are delightful. Lane Green and Matthew Lehmann are sharp and precise in the Spanish Dance, while the Arabian Dance is marked by its slow sensuality. The Russian Dance by Kelley McKinlay and Anthony Pina is packed with pizazz.
The pas de deux of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Mariko Kondo and her cavalier Brice Bardot proves to be one of the most exquisite dances of the ballet. Kondo’s solo is delicate, precise and lyrical while Bardot’s solo is imbued with jumps, turns, leaps and a tour de force that wowed the audience.
In the final moments, however, the timing in the performance faltered. At the end of the finale, Klara, her nutcracker prince and Dosselmeyer, who are sitting downstage, just barely made it to center stage before the lights went out. It was a jolting, anti-climactic moment in an otherwise beautifully performed ballet. Although the epilogue was lovely, it didn’t quite provide a closure of appropriate intensity.