Time for some holiday cheer to pirouette into the season as Canada’s Ballet Jörgen brings its critically praised holiday production The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition back to Ottawa. It all begins tonight with the first of five performances divided between Meridian Centrepointe Theatres and the Shenkman Arts Centre dancing through to December 15.
Choreographed by Artistic Director Bengt Jörgen, The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition was created in partnership with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection over a decade ago. The ballet features dramatic 30-foot backdrops based on landscapes by famous 20th-century Canadian artists including Tom Thompson and Franklin Carmichael.
But there's a Canadian, pun intended, spin on this Tchaikovsky classic with the show including lumberjacks, loons, and Mounties alongside those sugarplum ferries. Local students perform in the roles of squirrels, frogs, chipmunks and dragonflies through the company's Local Participant Program. Canada’s Ballet Jörgen offers extensive education and community programming, providing Ottawa area dance students the opportunity to rehearse for the past two months in preparation for their Nutcracker roles with the company’s professional dancers on stage
To learn more about what goes into putting together a touring production of this magnitude each year, I chat with some of the dancers and crew and also look back at the roots of this beloved holiday tradition.
Andre Gagne: The Nutcracker first began as an 1816 story by E.T.A. Hoffman (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King) before finding its way to the theatre in 1892. Why do you think this story translated so well into a ballet?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): The story has strong identifiable characters and lots of magic but the ultimate reason the story translates so well is the music – it is a near perfect score for dancing -rhythmical, fun and well defined making it easy to choreograph clear scenes that tell the story and fit with the music.
Since Tchaikovsky’s interpretation began in December of 1892, it is fair to say that there has been at least one production of The Nutcracker every holiday season. What about this show do you feel makes it so timeless?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): It is a family celebration, and the discovery of the world through the eyes of a child. We have all experienced that journey or are experiencing the journey if still a child – it is something that we can all relate to.
Of course, this has become a Canadian tradition for Jörgen. Why does the company keep returning to this classic each year?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): It’s a tradition – not only for us but for our audiences and for the holiday season. The Nutcracker is a “first ballet” experience for many people. It is a very accessible story, it brings people together; taping into universal themes of celebration with family and friends and our dreams of new experiences.
Can you tell me a little about the rehearsal process?
Ayva Rossouw-Holland (Dancer): We usually have class on stage at the theatre we are about to perform at. We then have a 15 minute break. After that we space through the entire show . While some of us are spacing, others rehearse local participants as well to make sure they are comfortable with the new environment. It’s also important to make sure all the interactions that are taught are in sync with the company dancers and touring cast of kids.
Marcio Teixeira (Dancer): The rehearsal process was quite rushed for me. I went on tour to Newfoundland just before The Nutcracker season got started, so I didn’t have to chance to practice much physically. However though I was going over the choreography in my head and watching the videos to learn from it. When I came back I had very few rehearsals and we were on stage.
Annelie Liliemark (Dancer): Usually we start rehearsing in mid or end of October depending on when we have the premiere. Shortly after that we start rehearsing with our touring kids. We have to start that in good time because they are students and not as used to the high tempo we have as professional dancers. After we are pretty solid in the choreography we start rehearsing with our artistic director and if he feels the need he will make some artistic changes to make the ballet better every year. When that is done we just try to perfect it as much as possible, for example working with our coach for the really technical dances etc.
How do you go about getting Ottawa area dance students involved in the show?
Elise Tigges (Education Coordinator): Students get involved in the local participant program in a few ways. As a strong community program, many dancers initially hear about it from friends who have participated or from having come to see the show themselves. Many of the local dancers return year after year to participate in the program, and wind up getting to perform many of the local roles over the years. Of course, there is a fair bit of advertising that we work on with emails, poster, and social media posts in order to bring awareness of the program to new dancers and to encourage them to audition.
With various interpretations of the piece, how does Jörgen’s go about making the production their own?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): Canada’s Ballet Jörgen’s production is set in Canada – starting in a small Ontario town and then finding ourselves immersed in the summer landscape of Algonquin Park. In the 2nd Act – instead of the “Spanish Dance” we have our immigrant Klara being introduced to raccoons, then for the original “Arabian” we have beautiful loons. This setting coupled with the signature warmth and humour of Jörgen’s choreography and intimate story telling make the production uniquely ours, beautifully Canadian and perfect for the traditions of the holiday season.
Though I imagine this should be second nature at this point, what is the most difficult aspect, would you say, in putting on the production?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): Dancers in this field do this ballet every year – often starting in a production as young as age 8. Yet our job is to create that first special experience for someone or to keep someone’s tradition fulfilled – so even though we may feel beaten down by the repetition and drudgery of the yearly job – we must and do remind ourselves of how special it is to do this work.
As much as the production repeats itself it also has a lot of moving parts that require planning, upkeep and readiness for dealing with every new circumstance that crops up. We have new stages, new cast members, 200 children, a remote controlled set piece, trucks that break down, construction and weather and more. So I’d say that the most difficult aspect is that it is the same show year after year but then again it is a different show every night!
The backdrops for the show are pretty stunning. Can you tell me more about them and how the landscapes were chosen?
Bengt Jörgen (Founder and Choreographer): The backdrops used in this production were inspired by “Church and Houses at Bisset” (Franklin Carmichael), “Trees and Wildflowers” (L. L. Fitzgerald), and “Snow in the Woods” (Tom Thomson). It started with – let’s have the setting be Canada and how do we do that. The suggestion that resonated immediately was – let’s use The Group of Seven paintings as the backdrop. So then the artistic team partnered up with the McMichael Canadian Arts Collection to get access and permission to create giant replicas of the stunning paintings. The selections were made from their collection and with access to their vault of paintings the team was able to select from paintings that are never even seen by the public due to their fragility.
What are some of your favourite moments in the production?
Marcio Teixeira (Dancer): I really like the snowflakes scene, especially when the snow starts to fall. It’s a quick and challenging choreography. Portraying the role of the small bear in the second act is quite fun too.
Annelie Liliemark (Dancer): I really like the snow scene that is in the end of Act 1. It's right after Klara has had a nightmare and things are starting to turn to the better. It's just a really nice dance and also the music is one of my favorites from the score.
Ayva Rossouw-Holland (Dancer): Some of my favourite moments include when the snow drops during the snow scene after exerting lots of energy throughout the whole of Act 1. It’s a satisfying feeling knowing that you have almost completed Act 1. The combination of the music change and snow fall is also very magical.
Here's how you can experience that magic yourself:
Ticket Information:
Shenkman Arts Centre
245 Centrum Blvd, Ottawa, ON K1E 0A1
--Wednesday, December 12 at 7 pm and Thursday, December 13 at 1:30 pm and 7 pm
http://www.shenkmanarts.ca / Box Office: 613-580-2700
Meridian Theatres at Centrepointe 101 Centrepointe Dr, Ottawa, ON K2G 5K7
--Saturday, December 15 at 1:00 pm and 4:30 pm
http://www.meridiancentrepointe.com / Box Office: 613-580-2700