Two weeks ago, I went to watch the Nutcracker Ballet by Dance Space with Ms Belinda and Tania at KLPAC. The idea of attending a Christmas Ballet in early September was not exactly elating but I was thrilled nonetheless as it would be the first live ballet that I am attending that would be performed by a somewhat professional troupe...or so I thought...
The Nutcracker is a ballet that all ballet lovers have seen a gazillion times yet never get sick of. The Tchaikovsky music for this ballet is one of the most enchanting ever in the classical ballet world, from the exuberant party scene, to the climbing notes of the growing Christmas tree, to the twittering waltz of the snowflakes, to the melodious waltz of the flowers, ending with the sweetest grand pas de duex of the sugar plum fairy and her cavalier. I should have suspected that this production of Nutcracker would not take on the traditional form when the brilliant composer's name failed to be mention on the poster or anywhere on the leaflets. Only parts of Tchaikovsky original music was used and the rest was some kind of mismatch random music. I don't mind unfamiliar music but sometimes, it best to stick with the original.
This Nutcracker by choreographer Steve Goh takes on a slightly alternative story line, with the main girl named Claire instead of the conventional Clara or Masha(as the Russians would call her). Claire receives a toy nutcracker from a magician, her sister gets jealous and breaks it, the magician fixes it, and the nutcracker came to life at night to fight the army of mice. He then take her to the land of sweets where they meet the sugar plum fairy. She summons up a celebration for the victorious Nutcracker and an array of dances are carried out. In the end, the nutcracker prince marries Claire and they live happily ever after. Nothing is wrong with this storyline at all as I have seen a more bizarre Nutcracker before but the problem lies with connecting each scenes. I felt that the production was very disjointed and lack a certain story-telling substance that all Nutcracker should have. I know it is a school production and I shouldn't expect much but I am paying RM150 to watch at least a decent Nutcracker. Come on, my ballet teacher in Seremban thought that Sleeping Beauty was part of it. This just shows how badly the ballet was communicated to the audience.
A typical school ballet would always, and I mean always have small little girls, some as young as 4, swinging or flopping around to the music, and this production is no exception. It is understandable of course. Parents want their child to have some time on stage. Lines after lines of little girls in mice costumes and painted faces came scuffling out, nodding their heads about and running in again. They were cute but not particularly enjoyable for me to watch (I did not pay RM150 to watch kids run around). And this brings me to the Chinese dance section of the ballet which was absolutely a bore. The one in the real nutcracker is around 1 minute long; This one, which of course used some modern Chinese music to allow all its little girls a chance for the spot light, was too long to sustain any bit of attention that remains.
Moving on to the main characters. The girl who played Claire, I have to admit, is a very good technician. However, this is another case of good dancer, bad choreography. The choreography was a bit repetitive in certain scenes especially with the bluebird lifts (plus the prince was not even strong enough to bear her weight). The male lead was not as good as the female, actually nowhere near the standard line. Well, this is Malaysia and I understand that the stereotypical view imposed upon male dancers here so I salute the three male dancers in this production.
There was nothing special about the set design, though I like the lights around the rim of the stage which lights up during the Land of sweets. The costumes were not that spectacular but what can one expect when one resides in Malaysia. The last tutu worn by Claire was a bit too 'bling bling' for my liking. It was almost blinding when the lights hit the tutu as the prince did another bluebird lift.
I know I am being a bit too critical but Ballet is something that is deeply embedded in me that I could not, I mean won't let it go if something is not right. Hope for a Malaysian company? Not anytime soon.
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