THE NUTCRACKER BALLET AT ITS BEST THE THIRD TIME ROUND

BALLET PROVES THE CORPORATE COMMUNITY CAN SUPPORT THE ARTS

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted December 6, 2017)

Ballet isn’t an art form that Kenyans know very well. And if they do, they probably won’t expect to see the quality of professionalism that they will find if they go see The Nutcracker this weekend at Kenya National Theatre.

If they have been to any one of the Dance Centre of Kenya’s previous productions, they won’t be surprised to find teenagers (and even pre-teens) performing at such a high level of precision, grace, beauty and elegance that watching them perform will be a joy and privilege.

It’s true that the world over, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s enchanting children’s fairy tale (based on a short story by Alexander Dumas who adapted it from earlier story by E.T.A. Hoffmann) has in recent years become a Christmas tradition. The DCK has also followed that tradition, having staged it for a third time at KNT this year.

One might imagine the public would tire of this particular ballet, despite DCK having staged other ballet classics such as Giselle, Les Sylphide and Pas de Quatre. But for one thing, Tchaikovsky’s music is sublime and it’s well worth going to The Nutcracker just to listen to his marvelous music.

But what’s even more relevant is that Cooper Rust, DCK’s artistic director and choreographer of all three productions, has always revised the dance format slightly but significantly every year. As such, every performance has been fresh and also filled with a number of new dances as well as new cast members and dancers as well.

Cooper stays true to the basic storyline, of course. It’s essentially about a little girl named Clara (danced deftly by eleven year old Carolina Fusillo) who has a marvelous dream. It’s about the Christmas gift she’s received from her god father (Ian Mbugua and Joseph ‘Babu’ Wairimu alternatively). It’s a nutcracker formed like a toy soldier  (Shamick Otieno) that comes to life, battles the forces of evil (embodied as rats led by the sinister Rat King (Silas Ouma), and gets saved by Clara’s quick thinking.

For her bravery, Clara is crowned a princess of the Royal Court in the Land of Sweets. She’s also rewarded by the Arch Angel (Kayla Hotz) with a series of exotic dances delightfully performed by Cooper’s most superlative senior dance students as well as by child dancers as young as three years old.

The story is as enchanting as is the music and the dance. One feels the production gets better every year, although this year there’s one obvious omission. It’s Joel Kioko, the young dance wonder from Eastlands who’d previously played the Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Cavalier (played this year by Guest artist Baris Erhan). Kioko is now studying at the English National Ballet School, having received intense dance instruction from Cooper who’d seen the young man’s immense athletic and artistic potential.

Other DCK graduates who have gone to greener pastures include Annabel Shaw who’s now at the Northern Ballet School in UK, Lucile Plumbe who’s at the Academie Internationale and Anjuli Vadera who’s at the Laban Conservatoire of Dance, also in UK.

One other enticing addition to this year’s production were the beautiful set designs painted by student artists from Kenton, Hillcrest Secondary Schools and the Rudolf Steiner Primary School.

The opening night’s Silent Auction featuring everything from air plane tickets to adult bikes was an amazing illustration of how generous the corporate community when they care to get behind an artistic production like The Nutcracker. Congratulations to

Cooper Rust and her team which clearly elicit unlimited confidence in not only parents who’ve sent their children to DCK in droves since the centre opened in early 2015, but also in Corporates who have shown how supportive they can be of the arts when they want to be.

The Nutcracker will be performed this weekend both Saturday and Sunday including matinees at the National Theatre.

Meanwhile, Heartstrings Entertainment is currently staging their latest rip-roaring comedy, ‘Nobody is Leaving’ at Alliance Francaise. It runs this weekend and next. The Friday shows will be staged twice both weekends, at 6:30 and 8:30pm. Then on both Saturdays there will be three performances, at 3, 6:30 and 8:30. And finally, on both Sundays, there will only be shows at 3 and 6:30pm.

Last but not least, Martin Kigondu is bringing back “What Happens in the Night” next Saturday, December 16 at  5pm at the Daystar Valley Road Auditorium. The shows starts Nick Ndeda, Chichi Seii, Bilal Mwaura, Shiviske Shivisi and Salim Gitau.