Miami City Ballet Review: The Nutcracker
November 24, 2021 | Opera House at The Kennedy Center – Washington, D.C.
Expectations were met and exceeded Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts when Miami City Ballet and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra welcomed an eager audience of all ages to this year’s inaugural performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.
Tradition and individual talent – those were the anchors for the faithful rendition of Miami’s version. Costuming evoked a Straits-of-Florida feel, perhaps from the enduring influence of Costume Designer Isabel Toledo. The turquoise stockings of Spanish Hot Chocolate lead Damien Zamorano… the mint-green tutu of Sugar Plum Fairy Jennifer Lauren… Little details like these evoked a world of tradition and fantasy on this company’s terms.
The designs were elegant and whimsical as the mood predicated. Concurrently, they underscored adherence to Balanchine’s ideal.
Of note: children were wearing masks, and the well-rehearsed, focused troupe of young dancers donned these additions with ease – impressive.
The set was grand and enticing, a well-construed melding of Wendall K. Harrington’s animation and the set and properties design of Ruben Toledo.
Animation gave way to sheer walls, a giant Christmas tree, to lights imitating falling snow. The deceptions were easy to believe in concert with the flawless, consistent, controlled performance of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
Clever nods to the company’s home climate included the pineapple crown with jellyfish tendrils parted majestically over the young couple sitting watch throughout the second act.
Costuming kept kitsch away from this version. The clean lines and big colors accentuated tropes and talent while deftly avoiding the carnivalesque.
Miami City Ballet (MCB) has a deep bench, and several in tonight’s roster proved the company’s prowess.
On this night, Dewdrop Nathalia Arja of Brazil, principal since 2020, made this reviewer believe in disbelief again. She became the story and the music through her total control of the ethereal compositions that require strong-yet-delicate execution. She was as smooth as glass.
I forgot about my mask. I forgot about the crying children three rows back. I forgot everything but this tiny, powerful drop of dew showing me choreography as if it were the first time anyone had imagined those ideas.
Arja’s performance accomplished what is hard to do with a ballet so familiar – she made us forget what we expected to come next. She made us witness instead of wait. Stellar.
A strong nod also belongs to principals Jennifer Lauren and Renan Cerdeiro. The pas de deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier can be cringe-worthy if one move is missed, one lift is off in the slightest.
On this night, they nailed it – every pose, every pass, every lift, every look. While it was not an effortless exchange, the technical delivery was undeniable and much appreciated by the audience. As they hit their final mark, their accomplishment was contagious and drove the performance to a fast-paced crescendo.
Maybe it is just this reviewer’s exposure to the larger Miami City Ballet mission of outreach to so many communities in the company’s native Florida, but a significant case can be made for the power of community in this performance.
Arja joined the MCB as a school apprentice in 2009 and is now principal. Cerdeiro was also a school apprentice in 2009, promoted to principal in 2013. Continuity of mission and purpose comes through in monumental undertakings like performing this Nutcracker.
The South Florida company is known for diverse programming. The company regularly offers virtual, free-to-view debuts of new ballets. They offer innovative costuming and retellings of more classical ballets, and they offer faithful renditions of Balanchine classics.
Miami City Ballet is bold, with deep ties to a region, not just a city. Their ability to create a team and execute the tenets of classical ballet with subtle, sinewy tropical flair wowed a packed house so mesmerized by the performance that applause was often delayed through awe for the precision and showmanship on stage.
MCB had not graced the Kennedy Center in more than a decade before this year’s Nutcracker. Their return was a triumphant tour de force that showcased the high standards of long-time members alongside the clear ability to collaborate and welcome new dancers to ballet.
It feels as if the entirety of holiday traditions lives within this one ballet – and with good reason.
Legend tells us there have long been stories of Nutcrackers coming to life for reasons of mirth and happiness and ill – the spectrum of human behaviors – in Eastern Europe. The published original story is 205 years old and was penned by E.T.A. Hoffman as a fairy tale meant to scare and excite adults.
In 1844, Alexander Dumas wrote a story that was first translated as a ballet in 1892 in St Petersburg, Russia, 129 years ago. Dumas is an interesting figure, as he was the son of a famous general of African descent and a French mother. Some scholars speculate that even though Dumas’ father died when the writer was only four years old, the imagined romance of military action transposes into the grandeur of the battle scenes in his Nutcracker story and the 1892 ballet.
The ballet has been choreographed from that date forward to the music of Tchaikovsky.
The Nutcracker was first performed in America 77 years ago (San Francisco). Today, some estimate that 40% of a company’s yearly income can be realized in a seasonal sharing of a Nutcracker run. In short, America loves this ballet.
The audience present on November 24th at the Kennedy Center reflected the broad appeal of the coming-of-age Christmas fantasy set to the emotive, romantic, and familiar Tchaikovsky score.
This re-telling, the faithful Balanchine version staged since 2017 by MCB, continues the remarkable 67-year tradition of the tale, a tale to which Balanchine first danced in Russia at the age of only 15. As you may have imagined, he was the Prince in his 1919 performance.
So much history and tradition can create real expectations for an audience.
We all know the score. We all know the big moments and await the special unveilings. That anticipation puts special pressure on a performance, the orchestra, and the dancers.
The pas de deux must (a) land every move, including the well-known lifts and (b) land those moves in concert with the orchestra. Such requirements can make it hard for the audience to suspend disbelief and get lost in the story. Only the art created by talent and teamwork can get past the expectations and lore that are just too heavy in many Nutcracker productions.
Fortunately for the Kennedy Center audience, MCB has both talent and teamwork. After a sleepy start, the troupe soared past the staid to create an exhilarating and memorable experience. Ballet is back – for balletomanes and regular folks alike this holiday season, Miami City Ballet performs November 24-28 in Washington, D.C.
After witnessing the potential of this herculean effort, moved north from Miami and carried back south again, this reviewer remembered the traditions that pandemic pushed away.
Holidays bring us together, and artists devote their lives to giving us the continuity of great masterworks over time. Their work endures and provides audiences the comfort of traditions. And the best find a way to make their mark on age-old classics.
Nowhere has a pineapple crown been more appropriate or a sherbet-colored cadre of costumes been more welcoming and familiar… more timely or more timeless.
Bravo, Miami City Ballet and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra!
Featured Photo for this Miami City Ballet review of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker of Nathalia Arja. Photo by Teresa Wood.
Nicely written article !