Review: Collin 'Nutcracker' a dance in the making
01:43 AM CST on Tuesday, December 9, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

RICHARDSON – Fritz breaks the nutcracker. Snow falls. The Sugar Plum Fairy pirouettes. Could it be anything but The Nutcracker?

As though there are not enough productions this season, Collin County Ballet Theatre sallied forth with its version Sunday night. A new company (formed less than two years ago), it teetered between delight and dullness.

The Eisemann Center for Performing Arts cast its own warm glow, while the Plano Symphony Orchestra gave Tchaikovsky's magical music piquant charm. The luster came with guest artists Luciana Paris and Jesus Pastor from American Ballet Theatre, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier.

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<small>[ 13 December 2003, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: gaeadea ]</small>

For civic ballets to tackle 'The Nutcracker,' careful planning is key

06:14 PM CST on Sunday, December 7, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

RICHARDSON – Mice scamper and Dewdrop pirouettes, Russians leap and the clock chimes 12. Down to the tiniest bourrée and the biggest jump, everything about Chamberlain Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker glimmers with a radiant charm.

Backstage at the Eisemann Center, there is another dance taking place, just as carefully choreographed. The crew, volunteers and dancers work smoothly to make the show seem effortless.

It takes discipline and coordination. There is little of the chaos you might expect with a cast of 160. Everyone has a distinct role, whether it is the gloved fly operator, Larry Navarro, who pulls up the curtain, or the five mothers in dressing room B who apply makeup to the 6-year-olds playing mice.

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First-class frolic
Texas Ballet Theater's 'Nutcracker' too superb to be missed

12:12 AM CST on Saturday, December 6, 2003

By DANA GAVIN FRANK / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH – In the deluge of Nutcrackers, how can gems be discerned from the more tedious productions? A combination of wry humor and elegant dancing is the recipe. On Friday night at Bass Performance Hall, Texas Ballet Theater delivered the most satisfyingly beautiful and dramatic performance of recent memory.

Lush without overindulgence and grand without pretentiousness, artistic director Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker captured the essence of preeminent ballet performance. From the corps de ballet to the Sugar Plum Fairy, Texas Ballet Theater boasted both fine technique and theatrical flair. Seasoned dance patrons can marvel at the improved artistic craft, but there's just the right amount of fun to keep the youngsters enthralled too.

Though Texas Ballet Theater doesn't divert from the storyline familiar to American audiences, Mr. Stevenson's choreography and staging set this version apart. From the plump and jolly family who bounced about the party in Act 1 to the luminous "Waltz of the Flowers" in Act 2, The Nutcracker crackled with life and balletic precision.

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Review: City Dance Theatre's 'Nutcracker' a treat of charming details

11:28 PM CST on Saturday, December 6, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM/Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

GARLAND – City Dance Theatre offered a fresh, lively version of The Nutcracker on Friday at the Patty Granville Arts Center. Guest artists from New York City Ballet danced the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, while students held their own in lesser roles.

Clara was a particular delight. Sixteen-year-old Lauren Williams looked the part of a young and unspoiled child, responsive and alert. Wearing a beautiful, cream-colored billowy dress, she danced with expansive freedom well beyond her years.

That ease and energy spilled over onto all the children in the party scene. Adults, on the other hand, looked pretty stiff.

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Review: Presents fill Dallas Metropolitan Ballet's 'The Night Before Christmas'

11:29 PM CST on Saturday, December 6, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

The cute quotient reached new heights Saturday afternoon in Dallas Metropolitan Ballet's annual The Night Before Christmas. The ballet bore no relation to Repertory Dance of Texas' paltry version performed only a week ago at the Eisemann Center. Dallas Met may have crammed in one too many penguins, reindeer, Raggedy Ann and Andys, ice skaters, clowns, drummers, candy canes, angels, elves and who knows what else, but it did it with style.

As with everything that artistic directors Ann Etgen and Bill Atkinson create, there will be not just a couple of daring overhead lifts, but dozens, be it the Ice King and Queen, the eight Skaters or the three Candy Canes. And that was only Act 1.

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Review: LakeCities Ballet sprinkles wee revisions into 'Nutcracker'

09:48 PM CST on Sunday, November 30, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

LEWISVILLE – Clara throws her slipper at the Mouse King. The Christmas tree grows. And the eight-legged dragon terrifies the Chinese. Little changes appear from year to year in LakeCities Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker, performed in Lewisville High School's prosaic Stuver Auditorium on Saturday night.

The Lewisville Lake Symphony, conducted by Adron Ming, once again thrills with its rendition of Tchaikovsky's delectable music.

The puppet show displaying the Nutcracker fighting the Mouse King again initiates a melee among the party guests. It ends as abruptly as it started, with a clap of Drosselmeyer's hands. The guests look confused as they rearrange their clothes.

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Review: Ballet Ensemble's youthful 'Nutcracker' a novel treat

11:14 PM CST on Saturday, November 29, 2003

By MARGARET PUTNAM / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

COPPELL – Youth and energy bubbled through Ballet Ensemble of Texas' Nutcracker Friday at Coppell High School Auditorium.

Sweet, yes. Dramatic, no.

Unlike its many rivals, this essentially student company imported only a few local male dancers to fill in, leaving major roles up to the 14- and 16-year-olds. (Its chief rivals – Chamberlain Ballet, City Dance Theatre, Collin County Ballet Theatre, LakeCities Ballet Theatre and Tuzer Ballet – draw star power from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet. Three of the five also feature an orchestra.)

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Texas Ballet Theater offers new vision of 'Nutcracker'

By Wayne Lee Gay
Star-Telegram Classical Music Critic

Jaded ballet-goers expecting just another rehashing of The Nutcracker at Bass Performance Hall will be pleasantly surprised by the wonderful combination of inspiration and craftsmanship evident in Texas Ballet Theater's latest version, which opened Friday night.

The company has changed its name (from Fort Worth Dallas Ballet) and acquired a new artistic director in the years since Campbell Baird designed this production for then-artistic director Ben Houk in 1999.

New artistic director Ben Stevenson, internationally recognized as one of the greatest choreographers of our time from his years at Houston Ballet, commissioned substantial revisions in costumes and remodeling of the sets while bringing a totally different choreographic vision of this favorite to the local stage.

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Classic retelling
Dallas dance troupe returns with 'Ebony Nutcracker'

By Lorraine Farquharson
Star-Telegram Staff Writer


Dallas-based Etta's Dance Expressions' Ebony Nutcracker gives an African-American perspective to the fairy-tale ballet, which premiered in 1892.

The Ebony Nutcracker, currently in its sixth year, will be performed at the University of Texas at Arlington's Lone Star Theatre on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a sneak preview at 7 p.m Friday for community, church and school groups. Preview tickets cost $7.

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