COLUMBIA — As Christmas draws near, there are familiar signs: the air chills, the lights go up and shopping anxiety intensifies. But for dancers, the Christmas season means one thing: “The Nutcracker.”
“The Nutcracker” was written in 1892 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky with Maurice Petipa, a famous French dancer, handling choreography. While the score became popular immediately, “The Nutcracker” did not become the classic ballet that it is today until the 1954 New York City Ballet production, choreographed by George Balanchine. The production was an immediate hit, and “The Nutcracker” has become a Christmas tradition for more and more dance companies across the world.
Many productions of “The Nutcracker” happen each holiday season all across the state of South Carolina, quite a few of which are in Columbia. Even though the source material is the same, each production has slight differences that make them unique.
William Starrett, artistic director of the South Carolina Ballet, said that he’s been directing “The Nutcracker” for 37 years, and every year he makes some edits.
“I change it a little bit every year so that people that make it a tradition have something new and fresh,” he said. “So every year depends upon my resources and the talent. I want to bring something different.”
This means that one year, if the company has more men, they might be added into dances that were solos before, or a group number might be reworked into a smaller piece.
Brooklyn Mack, artistic director of the Columbia Classical Ballet, said a similar thing. Although he has only been artistic director since 2021, he has created and reworked most of the choreography for the company’s "Nutcracker," which premiered at the Kiger Center of the Arts in early December.
"The Nutcracker" is South Carolina Ballet's most popular annual performance, with new backdrops set to amplify the Christmastime classic. File provided.
“It's never been my intention to actually choreograph ("The Nutcracker"), it's always been kind of out of necessity,” Mack said. “I really try to just embody the music and listen to what it's saying and what it's making me feel, and create the movement around that.”
Of course, tweaks can be seen not just in choreography, but also in design.
This year, the South Carolina Ballet is using new backdrops that have been in the works for two years. The drops are inspired by Southern architecture, which Starrett wanted to use to connect the ballet to South Carolina’s history.
“I wanted it to reflect on community. That antebellum or Greek revival style of architecture," Starrett said. "And then it's kind of the same theme throughout her dream, because that's where she grows up and that's where she's used to.”
According to Starrett, changes like this keep the ballet current. But even without little updates, Starrett said “The Nutcracker” remains the most popular ballet in his company's repertoire. As it’s a Christmas classic, Starrett said it’s almost a necessity for some people, and ballet companies are willing to oblige.
William Starrett, artistic director of South Carolina Ballet. (File)
“I have a responsibility to the community to make sure that they have a Nutcracker every year," he explained, "just like the university makes sure there's the Gamecock football games every year.”
While so many companies producing the ballet around the same time might seem like too much, Mack said he’s seen firsthand how much audiences want to see “The Nutcracker.” When he performed it in London with the English National Ballet last year, there were two other companies, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet of London, also producing the show in London. The smallest theater sat around 2,500 people, about the size of the Koger Center.
“Unlike here where we have one week of this production, another week, another production … these were happening simultaneously” Mack said. “Every single night was sold out for all the productions.”
Mack said that the love of the “Nutcracker” remains for many reasons: the iconic score, the Christmas connection and its family friendliness. That connection to family often comes from the large number of children in the production, which Mack said makes it very unique among ballets. Not only does the ballet feature many kids, but it also reflects a very childlike point of view, making it a great entry point into ballet for children and adults alike.
“It's centered around dreaming and imagination and good and evil and happily ever after," Mack said. “I think, even for a lot of adults, it sparks a little bit of that and brings a little bit of that back.”
"The Nutcracker" is South Carolina Ballet's most popular annual performance, with new backdrops set to amplify the Christmastime classic. File provided.
For Mack, that spark of imagination is why audiences keep coming back for more.
Though Ann Brodie's Carolina Ballet and the Columbia Classical Ballet Company have already wrapped up their annual "Nutcracker" performances around town, Mack is headed to West Virginia with the troupe to perform in December, and South Carolina Ballet debuts their performance Dec. 9:
- South Carolina Ballet: Dec. 9, 10, 16 and 17 at Koger Center for the Arts. Tickets $35-60. Matinee and evening performances.
