Review: The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”

Christmas is a time for tradition. Since I was three-years-old, my parents and I have been attending the annually performed production of The Nutcracker at the National Arts Centre (NAC).  For me, this special date with my family is an excuse to dress up, relax and appreciate art. This year’s show ran from December 5th to the 9th and each performance was two hours long plus intermission.  

Though I am not a trained dancer, nor am I a classical musician, I do enjoy and respect ballet for its craft. The show I attended on the 7th was very good. I have always enjoyed the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s (RWB) interpretation of the classic Christmas story about a young girl named Clara who has a dream in which her new toy Nutcracker becomes a real man, a prince to be exact. The RWB’s version is always very child oriented though the production is not childish. The majority of the cast is from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and it’s delightful to see young children aged seven and older participating in such a large production and holding their own.  

This year’s cast was one of the best I have seen in awhile; their chemistry was fantastic. Throughout the first act, it was great to see how the dancers interacted, their smiles were genuine and they really committed to their roles. The sweetest duo of the night was young Clara and young Julien – the kids danced so lovely together and reminded me somewhat of the couple in Taylor Swift’s “Everything has Changed” music video.  

The costumes were wonderful this year. Though there was a lack of vibrant colour in the outfits, I liked the subtle pastel greens, pinks and yellows. The second act, which consists mainly of dances by the Sugar Plum fairies and dancers from the Land of Sweets. The Arabian Coffee dance lacked the sensual passion it was meant to invoke while the Spanish Hot Chocolate dancers were lively and enthusiastic. The Russian dance was less vibrant than usual and a key portion of it was notably absent. This part was replaced by a male dance sequence that incorporated a new piece of music which is not included in the original score.  

Personally, though this was not my favourite performance of The Nutcracker, I appreciated the individual Canadian touches, such as having Mounties instead of soldiers fight the rats and the Hudson’s Bay Company blanket used at the end. The RWB Nutcracker also added in a large, fluffy bear as a character for comic relief and it made me smile every time he appeared.  Overall, the production was pleasing, both aesthetically and artfully. It delivered an old story to a modern audience and put me in the Christmas spirit.