scorpiodncr

Hello all, I'm a final year student In Royal Academy of Dance/University of Surrey's BA Dance Education degree program, in the midst of writing a dissertation (senior thesis) on Nutcracker (if that sounds painful, trust me, it is). I hope I'm not duplicating any other posts, but I haven't found anything on this particular subject, and I was hoping this would be a relatively simple question (ha,ha). Does anyone know if Vasily Vainonen's choreography for Waltz of the Snowflakes (as featured in some old Kirov videos as well as in Baryshnikov's old production of Nut for ABT) is a direct descendant of Ivanov's original choreography for that scene?

Hello all. I am a third-year (final year) BA Dance Education student at Royal Academy of Dance/University of Surrey in London, UK. I'm originally from Southern California (how I got here is a very long story I'll reserve for another thread). I've stumbled upon this thread in the process of doing research for my dissertation (AKA senior thesis). As a former Chinese/Spanish/Arabian/Mouse King/Party Guest/Drosselmeyer myself (and a few others I've willfully blocked from my memory) with various regional ballet companies in SoCal, I thought Nutcracker was a ballet I was thoroughly familiar with...my research so far has proved me wrong! Some of the posts already in this thread have been helpful in focusing some of what I hope discuss. The main questions I am attempting to tackle in my writing are: Who is the real protagonist of the Nutracker story, and what is his/her struggle and resulting personal growth? And: How can the protagonist's struggle and growth speak to a 21st century North American ballet audience? The productions I am mainly referring to are: Balanchine/NYCB, Baryshnikov/ABT (NOT ABT's current production), Joffrey (a personal favorite), and a bit of Wright/Royal Ballet (both his older and newer versions). Some of the key texts I'm referring to are by Jennifer Fisher, Roland John Wiley, Selma Jeanne Cohen, and Edwin Denby, among others. I also am using a new translation of both Hoffman and Dumas, by Joachim Neugroschel. Any helpful suggestions, either in terms of issues and debates, or pointing me to research/writings, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!