Dance Students Adore Bourne’s ‘Nutcracker’

Dance students from Years 7 to 10 enjoyed a magical trip to Sadlers Wells Theatre to watch Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker on Thursday 27^th January. Reviewed by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘Utterly delicious – a dazzling extravaganza’ our pupils were in for a real treat!

“This is the first live dance trip in two years so it was wonderful to be back in a theatre.” Commented Dance teacher, Beth Butler, “We were so lucky to have front row seats watching the musicians in the pit and not missing one single facial expression, gesture or whole body action from each dancer.” Year 9 dancer, Oscar agreed, “I really liked the way that the story was told through the dance, the entire production was intriguing, from the costumes, scenery and the dances themselves. It was amazing to see, the dancers were all in sync with each other.” “I really enjoyed the dance trip and thought it was very inspirational. I thought it was amazing because everyone on stage were not only great dancers but amazing actresses. and if I got the chance to go and see it again I definitely would!” added Catherine (Year 8)

Bourne’s approach is to take a familiar classical ballet with its original score by Tchaikovsky and modernise the choreography so it is completely accessible to today’s audience. In a traditional Victorian version of the ‘Nutcracker’, both adults and children inhabit a world of innocence, bathed in the glow of a Christmas community of nurturing, charity and cosy ‘family values’. In contrast, Bourne gives us a Dickenson Third Reich where the ballet’s only family embodies not holiday charity but greed and exploitation. Instead of a middle-class home, Clara is an inmate of Dr. Dross’ Orphanage for Waifs and Strays run by Dr. Dross himself and the matron, his wife. Bourne chose to use an orphanage as he felt this represented a fantasy in itself, therefore when the audience is transported into Clara’s fantasy world they would really have just gone from one fantasy to a more idyllic one.

Our enthralled students were transported from the orphanage to an ice skating wonderland followed by Sweetieland. “Eating a marshmallow, gobstopper, liquorice allsort, knickerbocker glory or humbug will now never be the same!” laughed Beth, “Everything is edible in Sweetieland and its inhabitants are judged not on how they look but how they taste! Everyone was in awe of the set with the most memorable being the large wedding cake that dancers moved in and around on.” “Going to London to see a professional dance company was a terrific chance to experience! Seeing the production was a great way to appreciate and understand what dance performances are like.” concluded Alice (Year 9)