reviewvancouver: Nutcracker

Ballet BC
Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker

Dates and Venue December 12 - 14, 2014, 7:30pm performances Dec 12 – 14 and 2:00pm performances Dec 13 and 14 | Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Reviewer Ed Farolan

I've been impressed with Royal Winnipeg Ballet for all the years that they've performed in Vancouver under the artistic directorship of Andre Lewis. Just as Ballet BC's mandate is performing new and innovative works, RWB does the classics. In fact, Lewis, during Saturday's matinee, said that his company follows the classical Russian style, and that's because their choreographer, Galina Yordanova, is Russian.

In this particular version, RWB deviated from the traditional and adapted it to Canada in 1913, a year before the beginning of World War I. The dream sequence still stayed traditional, but the start of the ballet had kids playing hockey and men dressed in uniforms, and naturally the turn of the century costumes for the other characters.

I personally don't go too much into modern ballet. I'm still the old conservative preferring the classic and traditional ballets like Giselle, Swan Lake and Nutcracker. And so I make it a point to see these wonderful classic ballets, like this traditional Christmas ballet performed almost simultaneously with the Goh Ballet Company every year.

The most enjoyable part of Nutcracker is the dream seuence where we see all types of international dances in ballet form. That's what makes this ballet interesting to children. Not only are children involved, but the different dances and costumes keep you, or more so, the children, from getting restless and bored.

Kudos to RWB for another wonderful rendition of this classic Christmas ballet. I brought my 7-year old granddaughter along and she loved seeing the children dance and costumed as little angels, polar bears, and baby mice.