The first time I watched Atlanta Ballet’s high-tech “The Nutcracker,” the one Yuri Possokhov choreographed for the company in 2018, I felt that the huge video projections and lavish busyness of the set design dwarfed and distracted from the dancers. I often found myself looking at the sets and videos and not at the dancing.
I saw the full-length ballet again at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Saturday evening (it runs through December 26) and realized that’s the point.
A 21st-century “Nutcracker” has to appeal to multigenerational 21st-century audiences. Few “Nutcracker” lovers go to the ballet the other 364 days of the year; they likely spend a lot of time interacting with their screens instead. So why not create a holiday ballet that blows up the screen to proscenium size and draws us in through video splendor? That is what this “Nutcracker” does. Seen through that lens it’s magical.
On Saturday I experienced the dancers as immersed in the sets’ magnificence, not eclipsed by it. Perhaps this was in part because the company, both on stage and behind the scenes, has become more comfortable with the ballet’s complexity than it was in earlier years, and the dancers therefore bolder. Or perhaps I was just ready to engage in the visual fun.
There’s lots of fun and humor in this “Nutcracker,” from the mice scooting across the stage on their stomachs in Act I to the cocky rooster and his flirty hen (Ángel Ramírez and Kelsey Van Tine on Saturday) with their chicks that hatch on stage in Act II.
Who could resist the shadows of mice running around the attic of the Stahlbaum home in Act I or racing along the seat of that pink armchair after it grew to giant proportions in Marie’s dream? I felt a little frisson seeing the luminous green swirl of the Northern Lights in Act II and the projected images of the constellations as they whirled across the stage. It’s impossible to absorb everything in one viewing, which means each holiday season, audiences will likely see something new.
The scenic design is more subtle for the pas de deux in the snow scene and the end of Act II, allowing the choreography to take precedence. I was able to focus on the technical skill and the tenderness, wonder, love and joy that Mikaela Santos as Marie and Patric Palkens as her Nutcracker Prince portrayed together.
Santos made her debut as Marie this year and she embodied the role beautifully on Saturday. Her arms were as soft and light as freshly fallen snow. Her smile felt real and her emotions alive in every gesture and swooning backbend.
She had an awkward moment in one section when, traveling diagonally across the stage, she finished her turns early, before the music, but it was a minor glitch in a gorgeous performance. In Possokhov’s neo-classical choreography, transitions don’t seem like transitions at all, but are part of a fluid stream of movement. Santos manifested that with every muscle.
Palkens was a solid, gracious partner who seamlessly swept Santos into the ballet’s three-part lifts.
As Drosselmeier, the cape-swirling magician who sets Marie’s dream in motion, Denys Nedak was somewhat flat early on. (He was a last-minute replacement for Guilherme Maciel.) But he came to life in Act II.
That’s when he stood atop a tall, skirt-like scaffolding while the orchestra played the section of the Tchaikovsky score often associated with Mother Ginger, a stock character in many “Nutcrackers.” (It surely was no accident that the set piece mirrored the shape of a typical Mother Ginger costume.)
Standing high above the rest of the cast, Nedak clapped his hands over his head, encouraging the audience to clap along. We did. We could have been at a rock concert.
Saturday’s audience clapped and laughed a lot, falling silent when Santos and Palkens melted into one another’s arms and when the corps in the snow scene created elegant patterns across the stage, finally dropping to the floor in a beautiful drift-like heap.
Isabella Kessler was a revelation as the Young Marie in Act I. Her dancing felt natural, her acting unforced. She is a member of Atlanta Ballet 2, and it will be exciting to see how she progresses in the company.
The corps de ballet and soloists were technically strong in Act II. The huge projection of an open book, whose pages turned to illustrate scenes from different countries, was a clever backdrop to the international variations. Darian Kane was a standout as a black snake emerging from a snake charmer’s basket in the Arabian dance, and the dancers in the Spanish trio were bold and effervescent. And what great costumes!
I’m not in love with the headpieces for the Waltz of the Flowers soloists – they look like overdecorated 1950s swim caps – but there is so much to enjoy in that section, and the ballet overall, that such minor niggles seem almost mean.
This “Nutcracker” cost close to $3.7 million to create – that’s a lot for one ballet – but it’s brilliant and deserves to stay in the company’s repertory for many seasons to come.
DANCE PREVIEW
“The Nutcracker.” Presented by Atlanta Ballet. Through Dec. 26. $30-$158, plus fees. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. 800-982-2787, atlantaballet.com.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
MEET OUR PARTNER
ArtsATL (www.artsatl.org), is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
About the Author
