The Nutcracker - Palace Theatre - 11/10/07 by Nadia Jaynes

Christmas is a magical time of year, bringing flurries of snow, family reunions and best of all the exchanging of gifts. The Nutcracker relays the tale of Christmas in The Edwards household. Uncle Drosselmeyer, a strange and mysterious man has travelled around the world and brought with him the most amazing gifts. Young Clara receives a strange wooden toy, a little soldier that cracks nuts.

As the evening draws to a close the family retire to bed. In the still of night Drosselmeyer casts a spell on the little wooden toy bringing it to life. Clara stirs from her sleep and can’t resist returning downstairs to play with her toy and is suddenly drawn into the fantastical world of her little nutcracker.

The Northern Ballet Theatre, (under the direction of David Nixon) have taken this traditional ballet and turned it into something with much more contemporary appeal whilst still managing to retain all of the charm of the original story. The Nutcracker is the perfect family outing, the story is easy to follow for the children whilst mums and dads cannot help but be captivated by the beautiful costumes, amazing scenery and of course the astonishing agility of the dancers.

Pippa Moore seemed light as a feather as she glided across the stage, the diminutive star with the expressive face was the perfect choice for little Clara and her scenes with Christopher Hinton in the snow covered forest were truly spectacular.

As the story progresses each dance is more impressive and beautiful than the last. The ballet turns into a worldwide event as in Clara’s dream dancers perform Egyptian dances with the beautiful ballet dancers twisting and contorting their sinewy bodies as though serpentine themselves, the Russian Cossack dancers impress us with their strength and stamina, the sexy Spanish flamenco dancers wow the crowds with their hot footed sensational salsa, but the majority of the applause was saved for the amazing acrobatics of Ashley Dixon and Sebastian Lowe as Chinese dancers, they flipped and twisted and leapt and turned until the audience were breathless watching them.

Keiko Amemori and Hironai Takahashi took the final dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy and The Cavalier, Takahashi defied gravity as he spun and sprang through the air and each dainty step Amemori took left barely a trace on the stage beneath her.

The costumes (again the work of David Nixon) were out of this world. They complimented each step and twirl and twist, moving as if choreographed themselves. My guest Jen commented that the dresses were like liquid and I don’t think I could put it better myself, they flowed and trickled with every move the dancers made.

The Nutcracker is a wonderful tale, the perfect introductory ballet for children. The Northern Ballet Theatre’s interpretation is a truly commendable piece of work. My only disappointment was that they didn’t get a standing ovation for their efforts.