The Nutcracker Ballet
This classic holiday fairy tale has come alive on stage at the
Stephens Auditorium each December for more than 30 years.
The annual Iowa State Center production features choreography by
Robert Thomas and Miyoko Kato Thomas of the Dancenter (Ames); over 200
local dancers from surrounding central Iowa communities; and principal
dancers performing the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.
The Nutcracker Ballet tells the story of a young girl, a heroic
prince, and the fantastic dream they share. From the opening party scene
to the last tinkling notes of Tchaikovsky's famous score, a festive
holiday spirit permeates the whole performance.
Nothing else will get you in the mood for the holidays like The
Nutcracker Ballet can. When young dancers sweep across the stage
creating visions of sugarplums and Candyland, you'll be completely
enchanted.
St. Petersburg première
The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere
together with Tchaikovsky's last opera, Iolanta, in 1892, at the
Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Although the
libretto was by Marius Petipa, who exactly choreographed the first
production has been debated. Petipa began work on the choreography in
August 1892; however, illness removed him from its completion and his
assistant of seven years, Lev Ivanov, was brought in. Although Ivanov is
often credited as the choreographer, some contemporary accounts credit
Petipa.
The performance was conducted by Riccardo Drigo, with Antonietta
Dell'Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as Prince Coqueluche,
Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince,
and Timofey Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.
The children's roles, unlike many later productions, were performed
by real children rather than adults (with Belinskaya as Clara, and
Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz), students of Imperial Ballet School of
St.Petersburg.
The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success.The
reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. While some critics
praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she
allegedly received five curtain-calls). Olga Preobrajenskaya as the
Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and
praised as "charming" by another. One audience member described
thechoreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not
understand anything.
 Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards
and forwards - quite amateurish.
Lydia Rubtsova as Marianna, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara and
Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz, in the original production of
The Nutcracker (Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1892).The
original producation of The Nutcracker, 1892 The libretto was criticised
for being "lopsided and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale.
Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so
prominently in the ballet, and many bemoaned the fact that the ballerina
did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act
(which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program).
Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first
scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt.
The reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Some critics called
it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to
end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic. But even this
was not unanimous as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and
the Grand Pas de Deux"insipid.
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