??Nutcracker by Grand Kyiv Ballet touring around Sweden - is it worth the money?

Kickstarting the Christmas season with the Nutcracker is a tradition in many families, including ours. We got three tickets as a goodbye gift from my previous employer, and we were very excited to watch the Nutcracker by Grand Kyiv Ballet at Malm? Live. It felt very special because this was going to be the first time my daughter watched a live ballet performance. I couldn’t wait to see her reactions!

I had never seen a ballet by Grand Kyiv Ballet before, and I was very curious. This performance was part of a tour around Norway, Sweden and Denmark, presented by the Norwegian organization “Kultur for Folket”.

?? The ballet presented some untraditional approaches which I truly appreciated: For example, the Nutcracker was a woman and the prima ballerina was not tall. This challenges norms and encourages girls to chase their dream even if they are not particularly tall, or if the tradition tells them the Nutcracker role is not for them.

This was a very strong message from Grand Kyiv Ballet that I'm hoping other companies will pick up on.

?? The ballet was overall a rather pleasant experience - my daughter surely felt happy and inspired. However, it fell short of all other Nutcracker performances I have seen, and it din't quite manage to bring the Christmas spirit. As a critic, I saw many flaws that can be addressed. If you are curious about what the Nutcracker by Grand Kyiv Ballet was like, here’s my review.

Dissonance, lack of variety and energy in movements, and wrong choice of dancers for their roles?

??Dance movements were rather repetitive. It felt like each dancer had their signature move that they were more or less good at, and they utilized those movements so much that it became repetitive and noticeable, for example, dance moves in the Arabian Dance and Clara’s soutenu turns.

??I felt that the choice of movements was not always right either: At times, music was very happy and intense, but the dance moves were dull and lacking in energy.

??Several of the duets felt dissonant, for example, the Chinese Dance. Not only these dancers didn’t show a close connection during the dance, but also the male dancer kind of left the female dancer behind when leaving the stage (or the female dancer was too slow to make sure she left the stage together with her partner).

• The duet that felt truly organic was the Spanish Dance – it was skillfully performed, it spread joy and there was a lot of communication between the partners.

Previous research has shown that spectators prefer dance movements that they experience as difficult to execute such as whole-body movements with significant displacement of the body in space (e.g. jumping) over in-place movements that involve movement of a single limb and no significant displacement of the torso (Calvo-Merino et al. 2008; Reason & Reynolds 2010).

??Movements with significant displacement of the body in space were rare, performed mainly by Clara, the Cavalier and the male dancer from the Spanish Dance for which they were well-awarded by the audience.?

The Arabian Dance ??????

Speaking of duets and qualities of movement that have the power to affect the audience more, I would like to note that the choice of dancers for the Arabian Dance didn’t feel right. The Arabian Dance is certainly one of my favorite parts in the Nutcracker. It usually manifests the limitless opportunities of what a human body can do in terms of flexibility, using impressive acrobatics, a wide range of movements and an impeccable interplay between the partners.

For the Arabian Dance to prove successful, I’ve observed that the partners need to be highly familiar with each other’s bodies and the weight/height ratio has to be a certain way for the act to be carried out flawlessly.

??While the male dancer surely was strong and did a great job, the female dancer was simply too heavy for this role: One could see how the male dancer was struggling supporting the female dancer. The attempt to make sure the dancers didn’t hurt themselves during this performance, unsurprisingly, led to a lack of variety and flexibility in the moves.

??Facial expressions of the Arabian dancers were also incongruent – while the male dancer had a neutral face, the female dancer was smiling a lot. Although I as a spectator appreciated her smile and the positive energy it often manifested, at the same time it felt a bit too much. The Arabian Dance is supposed to be mystical and sensual, not necessarily seductive or overly happy and open. I suppose it is not easy to find balance between seductive vs sensual and mystical facial expressions, but facial expressions are an important part of a dance performance and dancers absolutely should dedicate more time to practicing them.

?Reasons why the plot was unclear and how this could have been avoided

??Another notable problem in the performance was the plot. Most theatres and operas provide ballet booklets - consisting of a few pages or at least one page in cheaper productions - that contain information about the show, including how the storyline unfolds as well as the names of all involved. In my experience, these booklets have always been free, including my favorite Tivoli Nutcracker booklet which I keep to this day. At the Nutcracker by Grand Kyiv Ballet, the audience received neither a one-page booklet nor information by Malm? Live about at least the names of the performers.

??What one could do was purchase a booklet consisting of ca. 8 pages (like the one I got from Tivoli for free) for 100 Swedish crowns. Malm? Live states that some of the money collected through ticket sales will be used for repairing an orphanage and a ballet academy in Ukraine, which is probably why many of us felt excited to attend this ballet performance. I, as a Georgian who knows what it’s like to have your city bombed and being forced to live home, as well as someone who has great memories from Kyiv, feel 100% supportive and sympathetic towards Ukraine. However, I’m sorry to say this but 100 Swedish crowns for a ballet performance booklet, is a rip-off.

Informing your audience about who is dancing on stage should not be offered as an extra service, not to mention pricey. It is the spectator’s right to receive information about what is happening on stage to ensure a complete aesthetic experience.

Wrapping this part up, since we didn’t receive any booklet or at least information on the website about who was going to perform and how the story was going to unfold, there was an uncomfortable moment in the audience: After Act I, the audience seemed unsure whether the performance was over or if this was an intermission. Many pulled out their phones to check the website and make sure this was an intermission. This was caused partly due to the lack of information and partly due to the fact that the performance and storyline felt somewhat condensed. ??

Short comments

?? The performance started slightly late. That’s not a dealbreaker but the way the performance started, I noticed, was not appealing to many in the audience. We sat in the audience listening to two music pieces without anything happening on stage. Was this done as an ad hoc solution to give the dancers more time to prepare? Or was it done on purpose to create a feeling of suspense? Either way, it did not work for the benefit of Grand Kyiv Ballet.

?? The company seemed understaffed. Each dancer had to change two or three times to assume different roles in the ballet performance.

?? Scenography, including costumes, is a great way of setting the mood. The scenery was not particularly varied or impressive, and many costumes lacked creativity and festivity, failing to set a proper Christmas mood.

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