THE NUTCRACKER GRAND RAPIDS BALLET
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Grand Rapids Ballet | Terzes Photography
GRAND RAPIDS BALLET
THE NUTCRACKER
with the
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
is a publication of Kalamazoo RESA’s Education for the Arts,
Aesthetic Education Program
Windows on the Work Committee
Editor: Nick Mahmat
Window Narrator Nancy Husk
Research: Nancy Husk
Michele VanderBeek
Contributors Grand Rapids Ballet
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
Miller Auditorium
Design: Nick Mahmat
Education for the Arts
Director: Bryan Zocher
Director’s Secretary: Kris DeRyder
Coordinator: Deb Strickland
Aesthetic Education Program Coordinator: Nick Mahmat
Alternative and Special Education Arts Initiative
Program Coordinator: Angie Melvin
Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to
Nick Mahmat, Aesthetic Education Program Coordinator at
488-6267 or nmahmat@kresa.org
WINDOW NARRATOR, NANCY HUSK, is retired from teaching
general and choral music in Gull Lake Community Schools. In
that role she served as vocal director for three Gull Lake school-
community musicals. From 2001 – 2009 she coordinated Aesthetic
Education at Ryan Intermediate School. Durring several of her
years at Ryan all classrooms within the school were participating
in the Aesthetic Education Program. Nancy is also a pianist who
has performed chamber music and accompanied instrumentalists
and choirs in Southwest Michigan. She has a Bachelors of Music
Education from Indiana University and an M.A. from WMU.
Strategies for using the Window on the Work
Purpose
The purpose of the Window on the Work is to provide educators and teaching artists with
contextual information pertaining to the focus works presented by the Education for the Arts
Aesthetic Education Program. This information can fuel the educational process between educators
and teaching artists in developing lesson plans and can offer additional pathways (windows) into
the repertory and possible connections to existing school curriculum.
There are several ways that the information may be shared. For instance:
•
• Each educator reads a section and reports back to the school team in the planning
process
• Questions are brainstormed about the work of art and then researched by the
educators
• Additional resources are identified for further investigation
In the planning During the unit After the unit of
process, use the of study, use the study, use the
Window on the Window on the Window on the
Work: Work: Work:
• To brainstorm themes for • To expand on a lesson • To continue discussion
study development idea about the work
• As a reference tool as • As a reference to • To compare to other
questions and interests respond to students’ works of art the class
develop in the planning questions may study in the future
session • To keep the discussion
• To expand curriculum
• To elaborate and expand about the work alive in
the instructional focus the classroom study in the classroom
that has developed out • For source material on a particular culture,
of the planning process such as artist quotes or period in history, etc.
• To learn more about the background information • As a jumping-off point
work of art that may be utilized to make connections
• To consider possible when incorporating with other classroom
responses to the question contextual information activities, personal
pages as the Window is experientially into a connections, and
read workshop. courses of study
• To discover connections • To discover additional
to other work by the connections
same artists and to other
works in the same genre
Windows on the Work are written for Classroom Teachers and
Teaching Artists working in the Aesthetic Education Program and
as such are not written or intended for a student audience. The
Window on the Work publications should be used for planning
purposes and should not be shared with students prior to attending
the work of art under study.
The Work
The Work
The following section contains information on the Grand
Rapids Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker featuring
the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Please consider the
following questions as you view and read about the work.
They may also serve as helpful discussion questions
with students during workshops or after viewing the
performance.
• What do you notice about the performance?
• What elements make up the performance?
• What do you notice about the dancer’s
movements?
• What do you notice about the music of the
Nutcracker? Describe the music.
• The Nutcracker is a story ballet meaning
it follows a narrative. How do the dancer’s
movements and the musical score move the
story forward?
These performances are supported in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
and the Michigan Humanities Council.
Grand Rapids Ballet | Photographer: Chris Clark
The Work
The Nutcracker, Op.
71, first performed
in 1892, is a two-act
story ballet based
on E.T.A. Hoffman’s
story “The Nutcracker
and the Mouse
King,” adapted by
Alexander Dumas
THE
(author of The
Three Musketeers).
The music is by the
NUTCRACKER
Russian romantic
composer, Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The Kalamazoo
performance will
be a collaboration THE STORY
A
fter an introductory Miniature Overture, a Christmas tree is decorated and
between the Grand lit on Christmas Eve. A march is played, the children enter and dance, and
Rapids Ballet the parents enter and dance. A mysterious toy maker, clockmaker, and
magician, Herr Drosselmeyer arrives. He gives a small traditional Russian
Company and nutcracker with a human-like head to his goddaughter, Clara. Clara’s envious brother,
the Kalamazoo Fritz, almost immediately breaks the Nutcracker which Drosselmeyer repairs with a
magic handkerchief. After everyone has gone to bed, Clara sneaks back to the tree,
Symphony Orchestra falling asleep with the Nutcracker in her arms.
directed by Raymond
As the clock strikes midnight, the tree grows taller and taller, the Nutcracker becomes
Harvey. life-sized, and a mouse army fills the room. The toys around the tree come to life and
an army of Gingerbread men does battle with the mice, who proceed to eat them.
When the mice advance on a wounded Nutcracker, Clara hits the Mouse King with her
A performance of shoe. With the mouse army defeated, the Nutcracker changes into a handsome prince
the full ballet takes who leads Clara through a moonlit pine forest where dancing snowflakes welcome
them.
85 to 90 minutes;
EFA’s student shows Act II opens in the Land of Sweets where the Prince and Clara are greeted by the
Sugar Plum Fairy and entertained by troupes of dancers – Spanish, Arabian, Chinese,
will omit sections Russian, Reed-pipes, and Clowns. The entertainment concludes with the Waltz of the
for a 55-minute Flowers followed by a closing pas de deux (slow ballet duet) danced by the Sugar
Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. A final waltz by all the dancers finishes with the crowning
performance. of Clara and her Nutcracker prince.
THE MUSIC
"What people might not realize when they
The Overture hear the overture, which is so very famous, is
The first melody (A section) starts with a jagged accented
rhythm that smooths out in an answering finish. It moves
that Tchaikovsky cut the legs of the orchestra
from one instrument part to another, from high to lower and off. Not only is there no brass playing—there
The Work
back. There are variations or slight changes in the theme are no bassoons. There are no cellos. There
at times, but it is always there. The B section’s melody is a are no double basses. Bass line is played by
lovely legato (smooth) line which begins by ascending and the viola. The whole thing is like the top of
descending. The end of the B section sounds like the end of
the piece. It is not. The A and B sections are repeated in their
the Christmas tree. I tried to think of any
entirety (ABAB binary form). The only percussion is a triangle. composer who did anything like that before.
It's only in two or three pieces of Tchaikovsky,
where he simply played everything at the
treble."
Conductor Simon Rattle commenting on a 2009 recording
of the ballet by the Berlin Philharmonic
The Christmas Tree
This piece uses sound effects (gunshots and a trombone
slide). It is less formally structured to move the narrative
forward.
The March
The theme (A) is first played by clarinets, horns, and
trumpets with a triplet figure that sounds like a military
flourish. The winds’ phrases are answered by string
phrases, a typical orchestration device. The accompani-
ment is pizzicato (plucked) cellos and double basses, a
typical Tchaikovsky effect. The middle section’s staccato
(separated), running theme (C) is played by three flutes
and a clarinet. The form is ABACABA, rondo form.
The Children’s Gallop and Dance of the Parents
The two parts are contrasts with an ending dance.
The Gallop is presto (very fast) with dotted (un-
even) rhythms in duple (2-beat) time. The Dance
is andante (walking speed) with even rhythms in
triple (3-beat) time. The section ends with dance
music more similar to the Gallop although it is
allegro (fast) in 6/8 time (2 groups of 3).
The Music
Dance Scene: Arrival of
Drosselmeyer and Distribution of
Gifts
The Work
The opening phrases are in the low brass and with the viola.
The music changes to move the narrative forward with
changes in theme, tempo (speed of the beat), and instru-
ments seven times and with more low instruments than in
previous pieces. A low clarinet solo introduces a waltz tempo
(3-beat groups; fast) followed by strings. A bassoon theme
leads to a final presto (very fast) gypsy-like theme.
Grand Rapids Ballet | Photographer: Chris Clark
Dance Scene and Grandfather
Dance
The scene begins with legato violins in what sounds like
a pleading theme over a busy viola. A duple meter (2-
beat) simple folk-like melody in the strings is repeated
with changing effects to match the narrative. Percus-
sion and trumpet sound effects are added at times. The
Grandfather Dance is a gentle waltz alternating with a
busy Russian folk-like melody in two.
Scene with Clara and the Nutcracker
The opening melody is simple. The harp gives the beginning
a dream-like quality. A lovely English horn solo echoes the
melody. Suddenly the music awakens with harp flourishes,
bird-like flute melodies, and a triangle sounding the hour of
midnight. This is the music during which the Christmas tree
grows. Dynamics (volume), register (high and low), and tex-
ture (thickness created by the number of different instrument
parts) grow with the repetition of simple phrases in a variety
The Music
of instruments. Triumphant music with the full orchestra
ends the scene.
Grand Rapids Ballet | Photographer: Chris Clark
The Battle
The battle is created musically with the repetition of short
phrases echoing frantically throughout the orchestra. Special
The Work
effects create the chaos of battle: percussion, gunshot (rim
shot on the snare drum), the screams of flutes, the call of
trumpets, a cannon, snare drum, and gong. All the activ-
ity gets higher and higher as it nears the climax. The music
resolves into a low and slow stop to the battle.
Scene: A Pine Forest in Winter
The scene begins with a quiet horn melody in slow triple
(3-beat) meter answered by the strings. The harp plays
underneath, again giving a dream-like quality to the
Grand Rapids Ballet | Terzes Photography
scene. Triumphant brass create a thicker texture with
percussion added, reminiscent of the 1812 Overture.
The music recedes to a quiet ending.
Waltz of the Snowflakes
Offstage voices, originally scored for boy choir, double
the violins’ melody. Tchaikovsky uses hemiola (a simul-
taneous combination of three against two), in this case
a melody in three half notes against an accompaniment
in three quarter notes. “The extremes of speed, timbre,
dynamics and pitch, coupled with frequent caesuras
(sudden stops) make metre (grouping of beats) in the
introduction almost imperceptible.”
The Music
Chocolate (Spanish Dance)
In the A section a trumpet plays a characteristically Spanish
melody. Flutes and woodwinds repeat it.
The Work
The B section showcases strings with castanets and is re-
peated with the thicker texture of full orchestra. Both themes
use hemiola again to create a sense of gracefulness.
Coffee (Arabian Dance)
Photographer: Chris Clark
The low strings play an ostinato (repeated pattern)
throughout this modal piece, lending it a peaceful sense
of legato. The melody moves between English horn sup-
ported by clarinet and the high strings.
Tea (Chinese Dance)
In this dance, the two bassoons play an ostinato throughout
with the two clarinets and bass clarinet thickening it in the The Chinese Dance performed by the Grand Rapids Ballet
second half. The melody alternates between very high flute
and pizzicato (plucked) strings.
Trepak (Russian Dance)
This dance is in AABA form, presto (very fast) tempo. It is
in duple meter (groups of 2 beats). This dance is based
Dance of the Reed-Pipes
on Ukrainian folk melodies and a Ukrainian folk dance (or Reed-Flutes)
from an area that was settled by Cossacks. Some chore- A flute trio plays the theme over pizzicato (plucked) low
ographers use traditional Cossack movements. Others strings. After an interlude featuring the English horn, the
borrow from the troika (meaning literally three horses), repeat of the theme is thickened with the accompani-
which was traditionally danced by two women and one ment of middle instruments. A B section is played by
man or, eventually, three women. Its movements are brass and strings. The final form is AABA.
intended to simulate the movements of horses.
The Music
Mother Gigogne and the Tarantella
The second part of a pas de deux is a solo for
Clowns (Mother Ginger and the male dancer. This tarantella, from Italian folk
dances in 6/8, is fast and allows the dancer to
Her Children or Dance of the show off leaps and jumps.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Clowns) The third part is a solo by the prima ballerina
The Work
This dance begins with full orchestra in a folk- and is slower to show off her balance, line
like simple tune featuring tambourine rhythms. and en pointe (on her toes) work. This dance
The A section is repeated with added brass and is known for Tchaikovsky’s use of the celesta.
higher strings creating more sparkle. A B section The overall form is ABA and the melody is very
played by woodwinds provides a more sub- chromatic (moves by half-steps).
dued contrast. The A section returns with brass Coda
and strings. A trio section in 6/8 is particularly The final part brings the two dancers back
clown-like when the strings pluck the melody in together in a fast section of duet dancing.
the second part. An extension of the trio melody
is played over dissonant low accompaniment,
adding to the clownish character. The repeated Final Waltz and Apotheosis
A section returns followed by a coda featuring The last dance, led by Clara and her Nutcracker
brass in a circus-band sound. The whole form is: Prince, features strings and woodwinds in
AABACAA coda the A and B sections with a quieter C section
played at first by woodwinds and then later by
quiet brass. The D section features celesta and
Waltz of the Flowers harp supplemented by piccolo and flute on
the repeat. The entire structure is AABBAACCD-
DCCAA coda.
The form is intro AABBAA CCDC AABBAA coda. (A An apotheosis is a final glorification of the art-
coda is an extended ending). The intro features work. Both The Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky’s
harp, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons followed by Sleeping Beauty ballet end with an apotheo-
a harp cadenza (an opportunity to show off the sis. In this case, quieter woodwinds begin a
instrument). The A melody is played by horns simple, slower theme over celesta and harp
over plucked strings answered by clarinet. B’s arpeggios (broken chords) which grow into
melody is played by strings and answered by grand chords throughout the orchestra over
flutes. The C section features flutes and strings dramatic string tremolos.
with triangle adding sparkle. The D section con-
trasts with a low minor melody played by cellos.
The coda creates increased intensity with full
orchestra and faster repetition of phrases.
Pas de Deux
Intrada (Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier)
The first part of a pas de deux (dance for
two) is traditionally danced by the prima
ballerina and her partner. Tchaikovsky uses
a harp introduction. The A melody is played
by cellos on a single descending scale from
which he creates a melancholic melody. It is
The Music
repeated by high woodwinds and then the full
orchestra with strings on melody. The short
B section features solo woodwinds followed
Photographer: Chris Clark
by strings and then added drama with the
addition of brass. The A section returns with
full orchestra, and a coda features harp and
tremolo strings (sounds like trembling).The Artists
The Artists
The following section contains information about
the artists who are part of The Nutcracker.You may
wish to consider the following questions as you read
along.
• Who are the artists involved in this
specific production of The Nutcracker?
• What is known of their background?
• How do these artists describe their
approach to this work?Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840 - 1893)
T
chaikovsky was born in time. During this period he wrote a
Votkinsk, Russia, 630 miles variety of short pieces for piano and
The Artists
east of Moscow. He showed an songs for voice, three string quartets,
early talent for piano, at age eight three symphonies for orchestra, four
outplaying his teacher after three operas, his famous Piano Concerto
years of study. His family encouraged No. 1, and his first ballet, Swan Lake.
his musical development but was
concerned that, as a musician, he In 1877, at the age of 37, Tchaikovsky
would become little more than a married a former student, Antonina
peasant in tsarist Russia. Instead Miliukova, and within 2½ months
they enrolled 12-year-old Peter at left her, deeply depressed that he
Tchaikovsky as a teenaged law student the Imperial School of Jurisprudence had made a terrible mistake. They
in St. Petersburg to study law never reunited nor divorced. Shortly
for an eventual career as a civil after his separation he was offered
servant. His mother died two years a commission by the widow of a
later. Tchaikovsky called her death Russian railway tycoon, Nadezhda
“the crucial event” that ultimately von Meck. Liking his music, she
shaped his life. While away at school, became his patron under the
Peter continued piano lessons and unusual condition that they never
attended concerts in the capital meet. They began instead a 13-year
city, but at age 19 he graduated and correspondence of over 1,000 letters
began a 3-year career in the Ministry during which time she supported
of Justice. him with 6,000 rubles a year.
During those 13 years, Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky was 21 when Tsar wandered all over Europe and
Alexander II freed the Russian serfs rural Russia, never staying long in
(1861) initiating a new movement one place and always composing
to Westernize Russia. Russian and eventually conducting. One
musicians were divided between biographer states:
those who continued to adhere to “Thanks in large part to Nadezhda
traditional Russian music with its von Meck, he became the first full-
static harmonies and repetition and time professional Russian composer”.
those attracted to Western forms
and technique. Among the latter In 1880 Tsar Alexander II
was Anton Rubinstein, founder of commissioned a piece for his silver
the Conservatory of St. Petersburg. jubilee, and Tchaikovsky produced
He patterned it after Mendelssohn’s the 1812 Overture. In the late
Conservatory at Leipzig (Germany), 1880s the tsar’s son Alexander III
emphasizing training and technique honored Tchaikovsky with an annual
rather than catering to upper-class pension which gave him even more
dilettantes. Tchaikovsky enrolled financial security. Meanwhile, he
in Rubenstein’s first class and was becoming well-loved in Europe
became Russia’s first native-trained and more popular in Russia thanks
professional composer. When to the tsar’s patronage. Overcoming
Tchaikovsky finished his three years life-long stage fright, he began more
of training, Anton recommended conducting to promote his and other
him to his brother, pianist Nicholas Russian music.
Rubenstein, who had founded the
Conservatory of Moscow. It became After the success of his second ballet,
Tchaikovsky’s home base for the Sleeping Beauty, in 1890, Tchaikovsky
next 12 years as he taught harmony was asked by the director of the
Tchaikovsky and his wife Antonina Miliukova
during their honeymoon in 1877
and traveled throughout Europe as Imperial Theater to compose both an
a music critic, composing as he had opera and a ballet to be performed inthe same program. He collaborated with
Sleeping Beauty’s choreographer, Marius
TCHAIKOVSKY’S INFLUENCES AND LEGACY
Petipa, who chose Hoffman’s story of
Due to his training at the St. the Sleeping Beauty suite. Tchaikovsky’s
The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky sketched
Petersburg Conservatory and his lyricism and rich orchestrations can be
the ballet between February and June,
travels, Tchaikovsky was an admirer heard in Rachmaninoff’s style.
1891, and completed the orchestration
of German composers. He sought to Passionately devoted to beautiful
during the winter of 1892. He interrupted
please his audiences as did Mozart and melodies and captivating
The Artists
his work to make a successful tour of
Mendelssohn. Robert Schumann was orchestrations, Tchaikovsky was
America, conducting one of his works at
perhaps his greatest contemporary dismissed by many 20th century critics
the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York
influence on Tchaikovsky’s formal as a shallow Romantic. Donald Grout,
City.
structuring of his music and his for instance, in his A History of Western
harmonies. His use of the orchestra’s Music states: “Tchaikovsky is at his best
instruments was likely influenced in less pretentious music (than his
by Liszt and Wagner. He attributed symphonies), particularly his ballets
Beethoven, Mozart, and his Russian Swan Lake (1876), The Sleeping Beauty
predecessor, Glinka, as inspirations for (1890), and The Nutcracker (1892).”
his work. Tchaikovsky’s Russian successor, Igor
Stravinsky, however, enthusiastically
Always Russian traditional and folk embraced Tchaikovsky’s music. “He was
music influenced him despite his the most Russian of us all!” Stravinsky’s
Western training. He wrote: “I grew up own 1922 ballet The Fairy’s Kiss he
in a quiet spot and was saturated from said was “inspired by the Muse of
earliest childhood with the wonderful Tchaikovsky.” Tchaikovsky is being
beauty of Russian popular song. I am revived as well in the 21st century.
therefore passionately devoted to every “We have acquired a different view of
expression of the Russian spirit. In short, Romantic ‘excess,’” cultural commentator
I am a Russian through and through!” Joseph Horowitz says. “Tchaikovsky is
today more admired than deplored for
Tchaikovsky three months after Tchaikovsky mentored the teenaged his emotional frankness; if his music
The Nutcracker’s premiere Sergei Rachmaninoff, commissioning seems harried and insecure, so are we
him to write a piano arrangement of all.”
A year after the first performance of The
Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky conducted the
premiere of his Sixth Symphony in St. at St. Petersburg’s Imperial Theatres, in
Petersburg. Within days of the concert, charge of choreographing, teaching,
having been warned that cholera was rehearsing, and staging ballets.
prevalent in the capital city, he drank a
glass of unboiled water. He contracted Of his many ballets, The Sleeping
the disease which killed his mother and Beauty is thought to be Petipa’s “most
died within the week. There has always opulent surviving work.” The director
been speculation that drinking the of the Imperial Theatres originated the
unboiled water was intentional suicide, scenario for The Sleeping Beauty, and
the final act of a man who suffered deep “Petipa gave his composer, Tchaikovsky,
depression and self-doubt. He is buried detailed instructions about the type of
in St. Petersburg among other famous music he wished, virtually measure by
Russian composers. measure for the entire duration of the
ballet . . . Tchaikovsky regarded them
(the specifications) as challenges and
Marius Petipa composed one of ballet’s greatest scores.”
(1818 - 1910) Petipa also sketched The Nutcracker
A French ballet dancer, teacher, and in detail for Tchaikovsky, overseeing choreographer he might have been
choreographer, Petipa is considered by his assistant, Lev Ivanov, in the actual had he been more assertive, but there
many to have been the most influential choreography. Ivanov was a very talented is no question that he possessed
ballet choreographer that has ever choreographer but was said to be a bit genius because he choreographed The
lived. He created over 50 ballets too laid back and was forever in the Nutcracker and parts of Swan Lake.”
including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Petipa’s shadow. Ivanov “occasionally
Beauty and The Nutcracker. From 1871 choreographed scenes for which Petipa
through 1903 he was the ballet master took credit. No one knows how good aThe Artists
GRAND RAPIDS BALLET COMPANY
Celebrating its 41st season, the Grand Rapids Ballet Company (GRBC) is
committed to lifting the human spirit through the art of dance. A proud
recipient of the ArtServe Michigan Governor’s Arts Award for Outstanding
Cultural Organization, Michigan’s only professional ballet company has a rich
history marked by steady growth, a commitment to excellence, and strong
community support.
The School of the Grand Rapids Ballet has provided top quality training
and performance opportunities to aspiring dancers for years. New last year
was the formation of a Junior Company. Previously known as Junior and
Senior Trainees, these students will form one Junior Company under GRBC’s
The children in this Professional Company. Students age 9 to 18 audition to be part of this
production include dancers Company and enjoy the thrill of performing in their own productions and
from the Grand Rapids alongside Company dancers.
Ballet Junior Company The School of GRBC has an enrollment of over 200 students taught by
and auditioned dancers instructors from professional dance backgrounds; more than 1,500 students
receive free introductory classes through the Dance Immersion program; and
both younger than 10 (the the educational programs GRBC offers to the community are outstanding
Company’s minimum age) ways to foster the connection between the arts and education.
and older. They also include
Currently GRB is busy rehearsing and preparing for their performance of
dancers from Kalamazoo. Sleeping Beauty in October. As soon as this performance comes to a close,
the company will begin rehearsals for The Nutcracker. The company will
rehearse for about a month from November until December. They will
The children’s cast for rehearse Monday through Friday with some Saturday rehearsals.
the Grand Rapids Ballet
Two weeks prior to their first performance, the full cast: Company, Junior
Nutcracker performance Company, and Children’s Cast will rehearse the party scene/ Act I every
began rehearsals mid- evening for two weeks before the opening performance, since that is when
the children are available to rehearse. Each role in the performance, ranging
September for an hour-and- from the professionals through the children’s cast, are double cast, so each
a-half one day a week. They performance will rotate between different dancers who have learned those
will play mice, soldiers, and particular parts. Two weeks prior to the performance, GRB will rehearse on
their own stage, and the final week before the performance, the full cast will
angels. rehearse on the stage at DeVos.The Artists PATRICIA BARKER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Patricia Barker, former principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, is considered one of the world’s most gifted ballerinas. She received her early ballet training from Lynne Williams in Richland, WA, studied on scholarship both at Boston Ballet School with E. Virginia Williams and Violette Verdi and Pacific Northwest Ballet School with Francia Russell, Perry Brunson and Janet Reed. Ms. Barker has danced in many of the great full length ballets and contemporary works from renowned choreographers. She performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. She appeared as a guest artist with national and international ballet companies and performed in many galas throughout the world. Ms. Barker danced the lead role of Clara in Nutcracker the Motion Picture, and starred as Titania in the BBC’s film, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a celebratory re-opening of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. She graced the covers of Dance Magazine, Danser, Pointe Magazine, Dance Australia, Dance Teacher, Dance Pages, Ballet Review and Dance International. She stages, rehearses and coaches ballets for professional companies including staging works for the Balanchine Trust on the Slovak National Ballet and the Hungarian National Ballet. In her role as Artistic Advisor for the Slovak National Ballet, she also advised on programming and fund raising. Ms. Barker is a judge for international ballet competitions and teaches at nationally renowned ballet schools. She collaborated with Freed of London, producing an instructional video answering dancers’ most frequently asked questions about the art of wearing Pointe shoes. As a member of the artistic team of Broadway Bound, she choreographed full scale productions performed by children between the ages of 5 to 18.
KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is
Southwest Michigan’s premier musical organization, providing
musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year.
The KSO offers a variety of concerts focused on symphonic
masterworks, classic rock and popular music, a featured composer,
chamber music, and music for children. The third-largest
professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous
awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access
in Underserved Communities, a major Ford Foundation grant to
found its innovative Artist-in-Residence program, and repeated
recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts for its
CONCERT CONVENTIONS
extensive education programs which last year reached over
FROM THE KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY 50,000 students from 190 schools in eight counties.
ORCHESTRA
We love to hear the lobby “buzz” before
and after the concert. So, please limit RAYMOND HARVEY,
your conversations to before or after
the music. Oh, and anything that makes CONDUCTOR
unwanted noise should be left at home With an immediately
or silenced. This includes: cell phones, noticeable style that has
pagers, wrist watches, crinkly candy been described as “elegant,
wrappers, baby monitors, children but suffused with energy,”
under the age of two, most pets, and Raymond Harvey has garnered
some distant relatives. critical acclaim on symphonic
podiums throughout the U.S.
Currently Music Director of
Most people applaud a performer to
the Kalamazoo Symphony
express their awe and appreciation Orchestra, Dr. Harvey has also
for the performance. So, whenever so been Music Director of the
moved, please applaud. However, it Springfield (MA) Symphony
may benefit your relationship to the and the Fresno Philharmonic. He has appeared as guest conductor
loved one next to you to know that with many of the country’s leading orchestras, including those
most symphony-goers feel bound to of Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Utah, Indianapolis, Rochester,
an unwritten contract to applaud only Buffalo, Detroit, Louisville, New Orleans, and San Antonio, as well
at the end of the entire musical work. as the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts and the
Boston Pops.
For example, in a four movement work,
people actually wait until the end of the
Equally at home in the world of opera, Mr. Harvey served for 15
fourth movement to applaud. But, they years as Artistic Director and Music Director of the El Paso Opera
generally make up for lost applause in Texas. Among the many productions he has conducted are
by applauding a really long time. How Carmen, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Turandot, Aida, La
long? Long enough for the conductor to Traviata, Romeo and Juliet, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, and Don
bow, shake hands with some musicians, Giovanni. Other engagements include the Houston Grand Opera,
walk off the stage, pause, come back Indianapolis Opera, and the Texas Opera Theater.
on the stage, invite the orchestra to
stand, bow, shake hands with some Also recognized as an outstanding pianist, choral conductor, and
teacher, Raymond Harvey holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees
musicians, and walk off again. So, when
from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical
not wanting to totally embarrass your
Arts degree from the Yale School of Music. He has been featured in
evening’s companion, wait until others Ebony and Symphony magazines and is profiled in the book “Black
applaud, then follow their lead. Conductors” by Antoinette Handy.The Craft
The Craft
What is an artist’s craft? How does
one describe their artistic process,
approach, or the purpose of their
work? The following section explores
questions that relate to the craft of
The Nutcracker. You may wish to
consider the following questions as
you read.
• How does one become a
dancer? What skills are
needed?
• How do artists collaborate
to create complex, multi-
disciplinary work?
• What are some of the
compositional and
instrumental choices made
by Tchaikovsky specific to The
Nutcracker?
• What are some basic ballet
terms and what do they
mean?SO YOU WANT
The Craft
TO DANCE . . .
In the words of the famous choreographer, George
Balanchine, “One is born to be a great dancer. No teacher
can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good
dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire
a certain technical facility, but no one can ever ‘acquire an
exceptional talent.’ . . . The ballet is theater, and theater is
the magic world of illusions. As long as the sweat of class is
evident on the stage, illusion is defeated.”
For lead male dancers, the process can be a bit different.
Although some male dancers start ballet classes at a
young age and continue through their teenage years
until auditioning and getting into a ballet school or
company, some do not even start ballet until their early
T
he age that training starts varies from dancer to dancer, to mid-teenage years. After sufficient training they, like
but typically a girl will begin her ballet training between their female counterparts, audition for ballet school or
the ages of three and six years old. Early classes introduce a company, eventually apprentice with a company and
some of the basic dance steps, positions of the feet, positions progress possibly to the role of principal dancer.
of the arms, and ballet terminology in a fun, creative way.
Once dancers are about eight years old, the training becomes A DANCER’S DAY
a bit more tedious. Dancers are expected to learn more Dancers, like athletes, need to alternate activity and
ballet technique and execute it correctly. Around the age of rest and, like athletes, never stop training. A typical
eleven or twelve, many girls will begin pointe lessons. There performance day might look like this . . .
is no exact starting age for lessons, but dancers’ foot bones • an hour-and-a-half ballet class in the later morning,
need to be mature and their muscles sufficiently strong. • a two-and-a-half hour rehearsal period,
Training continues until a girl is in her late teenage years. She • a rest break for three-and-a-half hours,
then auditions and applies to a ballet school or sometimes • a warm-up for a half hour,
auditions directly for a company. After further training in • a half-an-hour to prepare their hair and make-up,
a ballet school or being accepted in a company, a dancer and get into their costumes.
will typically apprentice with the company for a year or two
before actually becoming a company member. The amount The last few minutes before curtain, dancers may go
of time apprenticing varies dancer by dancer and company onstage for a final practice, or they may run through a
by company. Once in the company, if her technical ability complex pas de deux with a partner. Then the curtain rises,
enhances her natural ability, a dancer may progress from the performance begins, and two-and-a-half hours later the
dancing in the corps to being prima ballerina or principal curtain comes down on their long day.
dancer.BALLET: A
COLLABORATIVE
Photographer: Chris Clark
ACT
F rom the time that dancers first moved to music, music
makers and dancers have adjusted to one another – speed,
accents, length of phrases (musical sentences), when to begin
HOW DO TWO ORGANIZATIONS IN TWO
DIFFERENT CITIES COLLABORATE?
J
a contrast. Ballet, as a performance art, required that all these ust as in Tchaikovsky’s to the music; musicians
adjustments be decided in advance. By the 19th century day, the choreographer watch the conductor.
Romantic era, ballets incorporated another element which takes the lead. She chooses a During a performance, the
could be adjusted: story. recording of the ballet which conductor may need to vary a
has the tempi (speeds of prearranged tempo to match
Whether to use a story and which one to use is often the pieces) which she likes the the dancers’ movements.
choreographer’s first decision as it was for The Nutcracker. best. The recording is used for A good ballet conductor is
Sometimes the composer collaborates on this decision. This rehearsing the dancers and an expert accompanist and
was not the case for The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky was told is also given to the orchestral collaborator.
which story had been chosen. The choreographer, Marius conductor.
Petipa, was used to working with staff composers who worked Scheduling also requires
at his direction. Despite the fact that Tchaikovsky’s renown lent The ballet company rehearses collaboration. Like athletes,
the production prestige, Petipa still functioned as maestro. for weeks ahead of the dancers need rest between
Through the theatre manager who had commissioned performance. The orchestra rehearsals and performances.
Tchaikovsky, Petipa delivered instructions on the tempo, rehearses just once before Their final rehearsal will end
character, and number of beats in a section for each part of they come together for by 8:00 p.m., an early cutoff
the ballet. The manager later intervened to encourage the two joint rehearsals. What for orchestral musicians,
use of more narrative sections in place of all the structured holds the dancers and to give dancers 12 hours
dances Petipa had conceived. Midway through composing, the orchestra together is rest before warming up at
Tchaikovsky and Petipa, however, met and confirmed the plan the conductor. Dancers 8:00 a.m. for our 10:00 a.m.
for Act II, using the suggested structured dances. The decision- stay together by listening performance.
making was a dance in itself.
Ballet, from composition and choreography to performance,
is a malleable collaborative art. As ballet companies plan
TCHAIKOVSKY’S STYLE
productions, they feel free to cut and paste music; reorder Tchaikovsky’s music was particularly suited to a dramatic
scenes; reconceive characters and plot; and add, subtract, art-like ballet. His melodies have a yearning sound which he
or replace choreography. Once the decision is made to creates with suspensions and anticipations, which sound like
adhere to tradition or make major changes, each company’s the melody is leaning into itself. He uses other elements to
production of The Nutcracker, because it is often performed intensify the excitement even in a non-dramatic piece like the
annually, becomes an accretion of ideas. The Grand Rapids Waltz of the Flowers. Joseph Machlis describes the piece: “The
Ballet Company artistic director, Patricia Barker, is but the last music climbs steadily from the middle register to the bright
in a line of at least six choreographers who have crafted their and nervous high, so that the three elements – acceleration
production. Each year new costumes and props are added, of pace, increase in volume, and rise in pitch – reinforce one
often necessitating new choreography. another to create the climax.”TCHAIKOVSKY’S STYLE
You ask me how
Tchaikovsky admittedly made musical
decisions to please his audiences,
I manage the
relying on beautiful melody and
fascinating orchestration. Like other
instrumentation.
late Romantic composers, Tchaikovsky
used the orchestra for musical effects.
I never compose
His biographer, David Brown, states:
“Tchaikovsky tends to balance timbrel
in the abstract. I invent
extremes, matching high, delicate tones
with darker, sometimes gloomier ones.
the musical idea and
The most familiar example of his extreme
range of sound is in The Nutcracker.”
its instrumentation
In addition to the more traditional
instruments of the orchestra, Tchaikovsky
simultaneously.”
added toy instruments to the Christmas
scene, offstage voices (originally boy
choir) to the Waltz of the Snowflakes, the
English horn (more mellow and haunting
than its close relative, the oboe), and the Excerpt of a letter from Tchaikovsky to his
celesta.
patron, Mme. Nadezhda von Meck, widow of a
Russian industrialist.
IMPORTANT INSTRUMENTS IN THE
SCORE OF THE NUTCRACKER
THE CELESTA
Tchaikovsky wrote to his publisher suspended over wooden
in 1891: “I have discovered resonators. It has four or five
a new instrument in Paris, octaves of keys and a pedal which
something between a piano and can sustain the sound. The best-
a glockenspiel, with a divinely known piece for celesta is “The
beautiful tone. I want to introduce Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”
this into the ballet.” He actually
used a celesta in an opera in 1891,
not wanting to be “scooped” by
other composers, and then used it
throughout Act II of The Nutcracker.
The celesta looks like a small
upright piano. Its keys are
connected to hammer mechanisms
similar to a piano’s, but, rather
than striking strings, they strike
a graduated set of steel plates CelestaDID YOU KNOW?
Sometimes good music
results from a bet. A friend
A Ballet
GLOSSARY
wagered Tchaikovsky could
not write a melody based
solely on the notes of a
scale. He did agree that the
scale could be ascending
or descending. The melody Adagio: A series of very slow movements Battement: A French term meaning “kick.”
of the Pas de Deux’s Intrada performed together to look graceful and
effortless, floating. It can also mean the Brisé: Quick moving step where the
is proof that Tchaikovsky beginning of a pas de deux dance where feet and legs beat together in a jump
won the bet. It is a single a man and woman dance together, from 5th position to 5th position while
descending major scale, a performing slow lifts, turns, and other traveling either forward or backwards.
haunting melody played supported steps.
Changement: A small jump in 5th
initially by a cello. Allegro: Quick moving steps, often position, changing legs from front to
containing jumps, performed to a quick back.
tempo of music.
Chassé: A movement where one foot
Allongé: To stretch, to elongate, usually moves forward and the other quickly
referring to stretching and straightening follows behind, chasing it.
An English horn shown above an oboe a leg or arm.
Choreographer: An artist who creates
Arabesque: When one stands on one dances by arranging steps to music.
leg with the other leg extended straight
back. Choreography: The way in which dance
steps are combined to create a visual
Attitude: The working leg is raised, bent expression of the music.
from the knee at an angle of 90 degrees
THE ENGLISH HORN and turned out so that the knee is at the Corps de ballet: Dancers in a ballet
The English horn is a double- same level as the foot. This position can company that perform the group dances
reed woodwind closely related be done from the front, side, or back. as opposed to solo parts.
to the oboe. Its pear-shaped Avant: Means forward, en avant is any Croisé: A position in which the dancer’s
bell (opening) produces a more step moving forward. legs appear crossed to the audience.
covered sound than an oboe. Its
greater length produces a lower Balancé: A series of steps that swing in a Demi-Plié: A half bend of the knees.
sound, between the oboe’s and balancing motion, often several together.
Demi-pointes: Rising up to the ball of
the bassoon’s. Ballerina: a female ballet dancer. your foot, not on full point of the toe
shoes; means half point.
Its earliest known use in an Ballet: A classical dance form
orchestra dates from 1749. characterized by formalized steps and Developpé: A movement in which a
Tchaikovsky also used the English technique. dancer stands in fifth position and holds
the barre for support. The dancer slides
horn for the “love theme” of Barre: A long, rounded piece of wood one leg up the side of the other to the
his Romeo and Juliet Fantasy attached to the walls of a ballet studio (or knee and then extends her leg as her
Overture. An English horn was on free standing supports) that dancers arms are raised. The leg is held still for a
used in Elton John’s Can You Feel hold onto for support during “barre moment and then lowered.
the Love Tonight and Candle in exercises.”
the Wind 1997.A Ballet
GLOSSARY
Fouetté: A whipping movement on one Rosin: A crumbly powder that turns Form: The arrangement of phrases
leg while changing the hip and upper white and rough when the dancer (musical sentences) and sections using
body direction. steps into it. Rosin makes ballet shoes repetition, contrast, and variation to
less slippery and safer for difficult and produce unity and create interest.
Frappé: To strike or hit, quick action of dangerous pointe work. Hemiola: A musical rhythm which uses 6
the leg and foot. beats grouped so that they can be heard
Sur le coup de pied: In this position, the as three groups of two or two groups of
Grand Jeté en Avant: A large, horizontal working foot is wrapped around the three.
jump in which the dancer splits her legs ankle of the other leg. Sur le coup de
while jumping in the air and then lands pied means “on the neck of the foot” in Legato: Smooth.
on one foot. French.
Melody: A sequence of notes forming a
Grand Plié: A full bend of the knees. The Spotting: A technique used by dancers tune.
heels are lifted when the full bend is to keep themselves from getting dizzy
reached (except in the second position, when turning. Orchestration: The way a composer
where they remain on the floor) and are or arranger assigns musical parts to
then pushed back down to the floor as Soubresaut: Soubresaut is French for different instruments.
the dancer passes through a demi-plie “sudden leap.” This is a jump in which the
and straightens the knees. dancer both takes off from and lands in Ostinato: A repeated rhythmic or melodic
fifth position with the legs tightly crossed pattern.
Pantomime: A set of gestures used in and feet pointed in the air.
ballet to tell a story, explain events, or Overture: The orchestral introduction to
indicate specific ideas or feelings. Tour en L’Aire: A jump, which involves a a musical dramatic work.
complete 360 degree turn or multiple
Pas de deux: A dance performed by two turns in midair. The dancer starts in fifth Phrase: A musical sentence or idea which
people. position. He demi-pliés and pushes often sounds complete by itself, usually
off the floor into the air and makes a set apart by breaths.
Pirouette: A turn or a spin around on one complete turn (or two) before landing on
leg done on pointe or on demi-point. the floor in fifth position demi-plié. Pizzicato: Plucked.
Pointe Shoes: A type of ballet shoe used Turnout: The turning out of the legs and Register: How high or low sound is.
by advanced dancers that has special feet from the hips. With perfect turnout, a
reinforcements in the toe and sole so dancer’s feet point in opposite directions Scale: A sequence of musical notes in
that a ballerina can stand on her toes from each other to form a straight line, order from low to high or high to low
while dancing. with the heels touching. within an octave (e.g. C to C).
Pointe Work: Dancing that occurs on
the tips of the toes. This is performed in
pointe shoes.
A Music Staccato: Separated.
Tempo: The speed of the beat (pl. tempi
Positions: There are five basic feet
positions in ballet and there are also five
GLOSSARY or tempos)
Texture: The thickness of sound
basic arm positions. Accent: Emphasis using louder sound. produced by the number of layers of
musical lines.
Relévé: A movement in which the dancer Arpeggios: Broken chords.
rises to demi pointe or pointe. The Tremolo: Various trembling effects which
dancer begins in first or fifth position and Coda: Extended ending. can be produced by rapidly reiterating a
smoothly lifts both of her heels as far off note or by rapidly alternating notes.
the floor as she can. When she reaches Dynamics: The use of volume of sound
the balls of her feet, she slowly goes for expression. Waltz: Music or a dance performed in
back down and ends again in first or fifth counts of three with a strong accent on
position. the first beat.The Origins
The Origins
The following section contains brief
information pertaining to the historical context
of the work.You may wish to consider the
following questions as you read.
• How did The Nutcracker come to be?
• How did the original team of artists
approach the work?
• When was The Nutcracker created
and what was the initial reaction to
this work?
• How has the production evolved over
time to become a beloved holiday
tradition?
• What is the history of ballet?The Origins
choreography, Petipa became ill.
The Nutcracker’s His long-time assistant, Lev Ivanov,
finished the work. Meanwhile,
Creation
Tchaikovsky sketched the music
over three months in 1891 and
finished the orchestration in 1892,
and often bridling under Petipa’s
restrictions. He felt that the music
Evolution
was “infinitely poorer” than that of
Sleeping Beauty, yet he released an
orchestral suite of musical excerpts
prior to the performance of the
ballet.
Late in 1891 the director of the
Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg
The Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky’s
asked Peter Tchaikovsky to
opera Iolanta were first performed
compose two large works to be
at the Marinsky Imperial Theatre
performed on the same program, a
on December 17, 1892. Although
ballet and an opera. On the ballet
Tsar Alexander III was delighted
Tchaikovsky naturally collaborated
with the ballet, the audience and
with the theatre’s famed ballet
critics panned it. Dancers were
master, Marius Petipa. Petipa
lambasted, the choreography
chose Alexander Dumas’ version
of the battle scene was deemed
of E.T.A. Hoffman’s fantasy, “The
“confusing,” and the libretto was
Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”
criticized for not remaining faithful
Petipa sketched the ballet in
to the original Hoffman tale from
detail, specifying both tempos
which Dumas had removed much
and the number of measures for
of its darkness. For the most part,
each dance. While working on the
the music fared better. It wasTOP LEFT AND CENTER
Stanislava Belinskaya as
Clara, Lydia Rubtsova as Mar-
ianna and Vassily Stukolkin
as Fritz, in the original pro-
duction of The Nutcracker.
The Origins
Imperial Mariinsky Theatre,
St. Petersburg, 1892
TOP RIGHT
Anna Pavlova
BOTTOM LEFT
Original set designs for the
1892 production
BOTTOM RIGHT
The Nutcracker picture book
illustrated by Morice Sendak
described as “astonishingly rich in continued in the repertoire of “its warm and welcoming
inspiration” and “from beginning to the Marinsky Theatre but was not veneer.” Despite her
end, beautiful, melodious, original,staged in Moscow until the Bolshoi criticism, it is probably
and characteristic.” The Nutcracker Ballet performed it in 1919. The first the most popular ballet
Suite, excerpts for orchestral American performance took place in the world, certainly
performance alone, became Christmas Eve, 1944, danced by the in America where it
instantly popular. San Francisco Ballet. has been a holiday
tradition since famed
The incomparable ballerina, Anna In 1983 Maurice Sendak, choreographer George
Pavlova, adapted the last two commissioned by the Pacific Balanchine made some
pieces from Act I into a ballet she Northwest Ballet, worked through revisions in 1954 for the
called Snowflakes which she and his initial sense of The Nutcracker New York City Ballet’s
her company performed in America being “the most bland and banal of annual performance.
and Europe from 1911 until her ballets” to recapture the darkness
death in 1931. The Nutcracker of Hoffman’s original tale and Tchaikovsky wrote his
bring Clara into the foreground patroness von Meck:
as a young woman struggling “An artist should not
with the confusion of growing up. be troubled by the
Sendak published his drawings of indifference of his
Hoffman’s original story in his 1984 contemporaries. He
The Nutcracker picture book. should go on working
and say all that he has
The Nutcracker is still not without been predestined to
its critics. “The tyranny of The say. He should know
Nutcracker is emblematic of how that posterity alone can
dull and risk-averse American ballet render a true verdict.”
has become.” Thus Sarah Kaufman, Obviously posterity has
dance critic of the Washington endorsed The Nutcracker.
Post, castigates The Nutcracker forA HISTORY OF
The Origins
BALLET
B
allet (from the Italian ballare, to French ballet included many positions
dance) originated in spectaculars and steps used today but was limited
of music, pantomime, poetry, by heavy costumes and masks and,
painted scenery, and dance interludes for the women, high heels. By the
to entertain and involve the Italian end of the century, ballets had more
Renaissance courts of the 1400s. dramatic content, lead male dancers
Court musicians and dancers were experimenting with leaps and
performed with courtiers joining the jumps, and some daring ballerinas
dancing near the end. Dances were shortened their skirts to perform
elaborations of Italian folk and social pirouettes. In 1796 one choreographer
dancing. Costumes were the clothes used invisible wires to give the
of the day with all their length and dancers the illusion of flying. Ballet
weight. moved from the court to theatres
and was included as an interlude in By the mid-1800s ballet began to
Catherine de Medici brought ballet to operas. lose favor in Western Europe. Its
France when she married Henri II in center became Russia and its Imperial
1533. Multi-media pageants based on In the 1800s ballet blossomed into theatres. Marius Petipa dominated
mythological themes entertained their the art-form we know today inspired Russian ballet from his arrival as a
court. Her son, Henri III, commissioned by the Romantic movement’s theme dancer in 1847 to his retirement as
the first ballet for which a complete of the struggle between bitter reality ballet master in 1903.
musical score survived, The Queen’s and the beautiful dream. Love stories,
Ballet Comedy, a 5-hour extravaganza fairy tales, and folk legends were Petipa developed the classic
choreographed for Queen Louise danced. Ballerina Maria Taglioni is
ballet technique:
and women of the court to dance. In credited with being the first to dance
Henry VIII’s England the masque was on her toes (en pointe) in an 1832
a similar court entertainment fostered full-length ballet. Lightness, elevation, • Pliés are often used where
by a king who loved dancing. line, defying gravity, and extending one squats and both legs are
bent at the same time.
• The feet and legs are turned
DID YOU KNOW? The 14-year-old king of France, Louis XIV,
received the title “Sun King” after dancing five roles in a 12-hour
out except when playing
production by the court choreographer and composer Jean-Baptiste more unusual characters like
Lully, Ballet of the Night. a frog.
• When the feet are not on the
floor, they are pointed.
In 1661 Louis XIV of France established balance were the embodiments of
the Royal Academy of Dance, the Romantic ideal of overcoming • When the leg is not bent,
and court dancing was replaced human reality. The female ideal was it is stretched completely
by professional dancers. Pierre embodied in the prima ballerina, who or put behind in a semi-
Beauchamp, a royal choreographer, now dominated the ballet stage after classical position where the
is said to have originated the five feet the earlier confinement of costumes, leg is slightly bent, but not
positions of ballet, but the dances heels, and social restraints. The tutu completely.
continued to be based on social of classical ballet showed off the • Posture, alignment, strength,
dances of the day against a backdrop ballerina’s legwork but preserved her balance, feeling and flexibility
of elaborate stage design. By 1700 modesty with a wide gusset. are required elements.You can also read
