Has anyone seen this ?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112000316.html

The choice and use of vocab is quite "special" I just can't stop laughing If you read the article be sure to read the comments section. Believe it or not some of them are even more amusing than the article.

Thanks for the link, Osiris - it makes for a good read.

Sarah Kaufman writes: "No other ballet has been performed by more companies, danced by more dancers or seen by more Americans." Michael Kaiser, one of the ballet adminstrators I respect the most, makes an interesting point about Nut fatigue - if you put all your eggs in one basket and the bottom falls out you do have a problem.

Actually I suspect that it might be more than all the ballet programmes put together for the majority of companies and audiences. The "Nutcracker" doesn't have such a stranglehold in Europe and many companies only perform it every other year or so

She actually highlights some really great points in that article about the state of American Ballet companies that I completely agree with. However, I think each of those points in an article unto itself and by trying to combine them all in one big article the details just become too vague. I STILL just can't get over the quotes like "the Deathless Nutcracker" or, "The tyranny of The Nutcracker is emblematic of how dull and risk-averse American ballet has become", then my personal fav "Plie it Safe". aaaaaaahahahahahaha, ohhhh man I am still laughing. I wish they published articles like this in our dance related magazines, it would actually make me consider buying them again.

Actually I suspect that it might be more than all the ballet programmes put together for the majority of companies and audiences. The "Nutcracker" doesn't have such a stranglehold in Europe and many companies only perform it every other year or so

Read Sarah Kaufman's review of Pennsylvania Ballet's performance of George Balanchine's "The Nutcracker" at the Kennedy Center in the Washington Post. See the Pennsylvania Ballet topic in the Holiday Performances Forum:

Pennsylvania Ballet

Here is another article on the subject

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2009/12/11/nutcracker-kaufman.html?ref=rss#socialcomments

Once again, don't forget to read the "comments".


PS - what happened to the user avatars on CriticalDance? I want my dancing banana back!

Alastair Macaulay responds in the New York Times.

NY Times

Great article. I wonder how many "american" ballet dancers had their first performance experience doing the Nutcracker? I myself fall into that statistic. How can Nutcracker be perceived as an evil, bad, or detremental aspect of American dance culture when it allowed so very many American dance artists their very first opportunity to be onstage and experience the joy and magic of dance?

ALASTAIR MACAULAY with another good article on the subject

A Nutcracker Lover Explains Himself
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/a-nutcracker-lover-explains-himself/

Here are some reader comments

Sugar Plum Overdose
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/sugar-plum-overdose-the-case-against-the-nutcracker/

Lend your ear to Karen Kain defending of all things, the Nutcracker! Who will Sara Kaufman go after next: The Easter Bunny, free Medicare (Canada’s OHIP), Christmas Trees, or perhaps God? She must be a Republican. I understand her pointe but why just pick on the Nutcracker ballet, why not also go after Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, or Sleeping Beauty? She wants something new but I believe she has to ask herself if there is a music maker alive today who could create a score as beautiful as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky or story that could survive as long as the Nutcracker? I believe you can build the art form yet still perform the Nutcracker at the same time.

Nutcracker – 1, Sara Kaufman – zero!

lol, you can also throw Carmina and Dracula onto that list as well.

And furthermore...I believe Miss Kaufman is bored with all the Nuts she has to review. Perhaps she should interview a child or semi ballet goer before publishing such a nonsensical article. Obviously there is a large and enthusiastic audience for the Nutcracker; otherwise, companies would perform something else during the holidays. Sounds like another snobbish critic who wants to sell some papers and make a name for herself at the expense of ballet companies who need the dough a Nutcracker can bring in. If you don’t like seeing it, you don’t have to go.