Singapore Dance Theatre presents The Nutcracker 2016
7 – 11 December 2016 | Esplanade Theatre
Singapore Dance Theatre will be celebrating this holiday season with the return of the quintessential Christmas classical, The Nutcracker, from 7 – 11 December at The Esplanade Theatre.
First staged in 2011, The Nutcracker will bring audiences on a journey through the pre-WWI, turn of the century Shanghai. The ballet will feature favourite and familiar characters including Clara, the Snow Queen, the Sugar Plum fairy and her Cavalier. With choreography and staging by SDT Artistic Director Janek Schergen, set to a vibrant score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with some of the world’s most unforgettable music, this enchanting ballet will feature a spectacular set and gorgeous costumes by local designer Aaron Yap, as well as characters that will dance their way into your hearts. This production of The Nutcracker has been hailed by The Straits Times as a “World-class production”, “an eye-popping, magical treat that hit all the right festive notes.”
“The tradition of annual Nutcracker performances was established by The New York City Ballet with its 1954 production of George Balanchine’s historic retelling of the full length narrative ballet. The essential difference of SDT’s production is that it was created with young children in mind. With young dancers onstage in the production, children in our audiences are able to better identify with the story and see themselves and their families represented on stage. Nutcracker has already been around in its original Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov production, which was first created in the 19th century for the Imperial Theatre in Russia, but its popularity has never taken on the scope it has universally developed since. Nutcracker is the signal of Christmas and now the whole world embraces it as a bit of magic to mark the holiday celebrations. The present production by Singapore Dance Theatre was inspired by the company’s first full-length story ballet, The Nutcracker, which was presented in 1992 and choreographed by one of the company’s two co-founders, Anthony Then. Our present production may be different in look, but it is entirely the same in spirit.” says artistic director Janek Schergen.
The Story
In Shanghai, on the 24th of December, Clara and her family are hosting a celebratory party. One of the invited guests is Drosselmeyer, together with his nephew Kristian and four of his schoolmates. Drosselmeyer presents Clara with a gift – a German Nutcracker doll, a gift which he had cast a spell on. The party continues and everyone engages in the merriment and the celebrations.
Later that evening, after the party is over, Clara is still wide awake, long past her bedtime. She goes downstairs to look for her Nutcracker and the spell begins to unfold. Suddenly, the entire house is filled with huge mice taking all the food and presents and causing mischief. Drosselmeyer returns with Kristian and four friends, now as handsome soldiers. Together they protect Clara as a fierce battle ensues between the mice and the soldiers. With Clara’s help, Kristian defeats the mice and leads his battalion to victory.
As a reward, Clara is taken on a magical journey to the Land of Snow where she meets the Snow King and Queen and her snowflake subjects. Clara continues her journey further until she arrives at the Kingdom of Sweets and is greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Everyone from the Land of Sweets comes to entertain Clara with wondrous dances and she is enchanted by the toy soldiers, the Waltz of the Flowers and sights of exotic foreign countries.
FAST FACTS
Title : The Nutcracker
Date : 7 – 11 December 2016 (Thursday – Sunday)
Venue : Esplanade Theatre
Time : 7 – 9 Dec: 8pm | 10 Dec: 1pm & 8pm | 11 Dec: 1pm & 7pm
MEDIA CONTACT
Amanda Teo
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Larissa D’cruz
Marketing & PR Executive
