CHICAGO – In the world of amateur ballet, each year has a familiar rhythm. Ballet academies hold auditions for The Nutcracker in the fall, and as winter approaches, the young dancers learn how to be toy soldiers, angels, or mice. Just before Christmas, when the ballet takes place, it is time to perform.
This year, with the pandemic, many ballet schools have given up the tradition entirely. But an academy in downtown Chicago owned by two Russian ballet teachers who ran the Joffrey Academy of Dance for years decided to find a way to assemble a “Nutcracker” – no matter how complicated it got.
Young ballerinas wore masks on their faces and numbers on their jerseys and played at the A&A Ballet Academy in September. Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik, the owners of the school, set out to create a “nutcracker” for a socially distant age: they shrank the line-up, cut off the partnership, cut production to avoid interruptions, and swore, only about 7 percent of the plays sell seats. They persevered even if a young dancer had a confirmed case of Covid-19 and had two other symptoms and moved the samples to Zoom for some time.
Then, about two weeks before the reduced throng of parents and grandparents were due to arrive for the scheduled performances, a spate of Covid cases caused the state to close all theaters again.
Unimpressed, Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik came up with a simple solution: Why not postpone “Nutcracker” to May if they hope that there will be fewer restrictions?
The idea of moving the most Christmassy ballet into spring may seem unsettling. Set on Christmas Eve, “The Nutcracker” usually features a towering Christmas tree and dancing snowflakes, making it an annual holiday tradition around the world. But Mr. Kremnev and Mrs. Reznik don’t see why it has to be that way. After all, Handel’s “Messiah”, the ultimate Christmas Oratorio, was originally considered Easter music.
And ballet companies have not always limited their “Nutcracker” performances to the Christmas season, especially in the Soviet Union and Russia, where the ballet with its glorious Tchaikovsky score premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892. During this very first performance in December, when a new “Nutcracker” production was being assembled in what was then Leningrad in 1934, the premiere was in February. And in March 1966, the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow unveiled a new production.
“For them it was just another ballet – and not the most successful ballet,” said Jennifer Fisher, dance historian and author of Nutcracker Nation. “Once it’s planted here in San Francisco in 1944 and in New York in 1954, it becomes an annual production, always at Christmas.”
Even in the US it wasn’t always limited to winter: in 1977 Mikhail Baryshnikov’s “Nutcracker” was performed for the American Ballet Theater in May after a more traditional world premiere in Washington, New York in December.
Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik said that when they lived in Russia it was customary to play “Nutcrackers” throughout the season, usually September to May, so this year’s shift doesn’t feel strange to them.
“It was a repertoire like ‘Spartacus’ or ‘Swan Lake’ or ‘Sleeping Beauty’,” said Kremnev.
In May, when the temperature rises and, with a bit of luck, the virus subsides, the dancers from A&A Ballet, their furry mouse suits, their Tricorn soldiers’ hats, and the weirdly large skirt of Mother Ginger can break out – assuming the theaters in Chicago it is allowed to reopen.
For Mr. Kremnev (50) and Ms. Reznik (52), who are married, reopening their studio in the summer was a challenge in itself. It was often difficult to determine where classes and rehearsals fit into the state’s gradual reopening plan. (Is a ballet academy more of a fitness class or a camp?) However, they ran an intensive program in their studio in July, and a city inspector visited the program to make sure the program was in line with state guidelines.
When it came time for their “Art Deco Nutcracker” set in 1920s America, the couple were keen to keep the show operating by rules designed to stop its spread. In September no more than 10 artists could rehearse at the same time. They planned a cast of around 75 dancers, half the size of the usual. And they would only occupy about 7 percent of the 725 seats in the Studebaker Theater, which would be anything but a financial success.
Then there were the changes to the ballet itself. Mr. Kremnev, who choreographed “The Art Deco Nutcracker” in 2017, removed all partnerships and close contacts between the young dancers. The Sugarplum Fairy could no longer dance the pas de deux with her Cavalier, and the trio of Russian dancers performing in the second act could no longer embrace each other.
During rehearsals, the ballet teachers could no longer bring the dancers’ bodies into the correct positions.
“Usually they’re very handy,” said Grace Curry, a 17-year-old dancer who plays both Clara and the Sugarplum Fairy in a variety of lineups. “They move your leg where they want, they put your foot in the right position. But this year they couldn’t. “
The dancers, ages 4 to 24, were disappointed with the sudden cancellation of the show, but Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik were relatively unimpressed.
Her production of “Nutcracker” isn’t really about the performances or the ticket revenue. It’s about getting the students in the studio to train, learn the choreography and learn to perform in sync with the others.
“It really doesn’t matter if we do it,” said Ms. Reznik. “I always tell my students that everything we do in the studio can be used for the future.”
But they will assure the dancers and their families that they intend to make “Nutcrackers” a Christmas tradition – in 2021.
