Any dance-enthusiast will know that Christmastime without Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' is like Easter without the eggs! Fortunatley for all those dance-enthusists out there, there are plenty of ballet companies only too happy to oblige. This season alone, I have seen at least 4 such Nucracker ballets being advertised locally. I chose therefore to go and watch one from a company I had never seen perform before, in a venue that was not built for traditional theatre performance.
On arriving inside the main auditorium at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall I was pleasantly surprised. What is normally a large classical music concert hall had been given a make-over. The stage had been cleared of all podia, a false prosc. arch with large dark blue curtain had been erected, which, once opened revealed false curtained wings, and a large screen at the rear onto which CGI images were displayed throughout to show set and location. The orchestra therefore had been given the first few rows of the stalls (seats taken out), and the whole looked very much like a purpose-built theatre. Very clever and effective. There was perhaps only one thing not in their favour with this arrangement, and that was the lighting capacity and capability. The rear screen too had its disadvantages, as it was sometimes much brighter than necessary and pulled focus from the dancers.
The company performing the ballet was the Varna International Ballet from Bulgaria. The company are touring the UK until the middle of March, and their soloists hail from various European countries.
The story of 'The Nutcracker' really is not the most inspiring in the world, nor is it the most difficult to follow. Perhaps that's one of the reasons it has stood the test of time. It's also very 'child-friendly', and it is the ideal ballet to bring families and younger children to. A magical fairystory of toys coming life is something that every child can imagine. The other thing in this ballet's favour is the wonderful music. Tchaikovsky's score is a potpourri of delight after delight, with many of these tunes being used for adverts, theme tunes, and stand-alone pieces. Of course, to get the full effect of the score, you need a full symphony orchestra - there you can really find definition, nuance and depth of dynamic, and the score can soar - and so I was a little disheartened by such a small orchestra (approx 20 musicians) this early evening, especially finding that an electric keyboard featured prominently to play all the parts missing from the orchestra proper. Obviously a full orchestra would have proved impossible for a touring company, so a compromise had to be struck.
The principal dancers were all wondeful this evening. I am not in any way qualified to comment on their technical ability; I shall leave that to those who have studied the art-form; but from a layman's perspective, there did not seem to be much variety in the choreography, with a rather odd choice for poor Giulia Visalli as The Arabian Dancer. who was tasked with trying to walk balletically in huge platform shoes. Joao Goncalves excelled as both the Nutcracker Doll and the Chinese Dancer. Whilst Vittorio Scole and Perdita Lancaster delighted with their pas-de-deuxs and solos as the Prince and Marie.
The Corps worked well this evening, and filled the stage with their colouful costumes and traditional style routines. Sadly however, they were rarely completely in sync. This was particularly noticable in the four Arab dancing girls, and in the Waltz Of The Snowflakes, which is a wonderfully visual spectacle to finish the first act.
An entertaining and seasonal treat for all the family.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2.1.23
on - 2.1.23
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