And don’t forget!
Tonight on OvationTV, the winning Nutcracker is revealed!
From the Times Online (UK):
Dance TV programmes this Christmas
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About Nichelle (admin)Nichelle Strzepek began Dance Advantage in 2008, equipped with little more than passion for movement education, curiosity, and an intuitive sense that the Internet could bring dancers together. She has written about 100,000 words on dance and dance training each year of its existence. Nichelle holds a BA in dance and is an instructor with more than 16 years experience. She continues to perform as a contemporary dance artist, covers dance in the Houston area as a freelance writer and critic, and balances daily life as a full-time mom of two young children.
Which one did they pick? I didn’t get to see. We did end up watching most of them this year. Last year my favorite was Matthew Bourne’s wacky confection; this year I really liked “Nutcracker: The Motion Picture,” which I thought was lovely and the dancing was beautiful. (I’d love the Balanchine movie more, as it is closest to our company’s version of The Nutcracker, but the crass inclusion of non-dancer Macauley Culkin really spoils it for me.)
I tried but couldn’t get into The Hard Nut. Not a real modern kind of guy, I guess. Yes, any Baryshnikov would be wonderful — I was lucky enough to see him dance when I was young. (In fact, I’ve been trying to hunt down a copy of “The Turning Point” recently to show my daughters. I’m not a dancer, but there was a time when I loved that movie.) We have the Bolshoi and it’s just too different from American versions, and my younger, a three-year clown, really resents any version without a Mother Ginger.
(Not to keep this going forever, but . . . ) Our library had a VHS copy of White Nights, which was far better than I had remembered. We had a tough time explaining all the intricate politics that were involved, why Russian dancers were defecting, all that, and how someone like Greg Hines’s character could be choosing to live in Soviet Russia, so from that aspect it’s a period piece, but all the dancing was amazing.
For the second year in a row Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut won. It’s alright and an amusing take, but I have trouble getting overly excited about any of the contemporary Nutcrackers, including Bourne’s version. I think I enjoy it more when contemporary companies create their own holiday stories/events. Leave the nutcracking to ballet – and even here I actually prefer a more traditional take on the classic. I had not seen the Motion Picture version in many years and it was nice to see it again as an adult. I agree that the Balanchine movie would have been much better without Macauley, the whole “movie” version seems a bit overdone period. Bolshoi’s dancing is good but that version is looking very awkward and dated. I would like to see the Baryshnikov version included in the battle someday. Although, not a choice on Ovation obviously, I enjoyed the San Francisco ballet’s version televised on PBS. And live, I was quite pleased with the Houston Ballet’s version.
I would like to get my hands on The Turning Point as well (there apparently is a DVD but why it’s so rare/expensive, I don’t know). It has been some time since I’ve seen it. For a while it was played constantly on one of those cable movie networks, but not lately. This and another Baryshnikov vehicle, White Nights, put most current dance movies to shame mainly because they provide something more than a recycled storyline. I’m not sure if these “old” movies would appeal to all young dancers but they show that plot, writing, and acting don’t have to be sacrificed to make a movie about dance.
For anyone interested, The Turning Point, starring Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Baryshnikov and others, was nominated for 11 Oscars but unfortunately received none. White Nights (1985) didn’t win any awards but combines two dance greats (Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines) in some unique dance sequences and is about an expatriate Russian dancer and an African American tap dancer living in Russia.