What: Ballet Victoria’s The Gift
Where: Royal Theatre
When: Friday Dec. 28 (7:30 p.m.), Saturday Dec. 29 (2 p.m.) and Sunday Dec. 30 (2 p.m.)
Tickets: $16-$82 through rmts.bc.ca, by phone at 250-386-6121, or in person at the Royal McPherson box office
Information: balletvictoria.ca
When it comes to assessing the quality of The Nutcracker, few on Vancouver Island have the experience to match Paul Destrooper. The Ballet Victoria artistic producer, who joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1993 before becoming principal dancer with Alberta Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theatre, has danced in no fewer than six separate productions of the seasonal classic, including some of the world’s most-loved versions. When he took over Ballet Victoria, which is now in its 16th season, he knew he eventually wanted to create one of his own that would omit some of the darker elements from the Tchaikovsky original.
The result is The Gift, which debuted six years ago and runs for three performances at The Royal Theatre this weekend.
“One of the factors I use to judge how well we do is that we never have any kids crying in the audience, which is something I’ve witnessed at every other Nutcracker,” Destrooper said with a laugh. “Our audience is captivated. It speaks to them.”
Destrooper never felt the need to dumb-down his production n order to curry favour with children, either. “We never talk down to the audience, and think: ‘We’d better make it simple so that children can understand it. The kids get it. They are so quick.”
Destrooper has been taking Ballet Victoria and his production on the road for the past four years. The team visited Revelstoke, Chilliwack and Coquitlam for seven performances this month, used a coterie of local dancers — including for Clara, the young girl whose nutcracker toy forms the centrepiece of the story — in each city. “They get to do more than just stand there in pretty costumes,” Destrooper said.
“At the same time, the Ballet Victoria dancers, the professionals, are doing something extremely technical and beautiful, so you get to enjoy a production that has a lot of depth, artistically and technically.”
By the time Destrooper stages The Gift in Victoria, for Ballet Victoria’s final shows of 2018, the modest company of 14 dancers will be punching well above its weight, with an additional 25 children joining the cast for the trio of local performances. Ballet Victoria is also backed by the Victoria Symphony for The Gift. Thesymphony’s rendition of Tchaikovsky’s iconic score will give a regal air to the proceedings. “There’s no company our size in Canada that has a full orchestra,” he said.
Destrooper made a decision to bring The Nutcracker into the 21st century with The Gift. Instead of having Clara awake from a bad dream about mice and battles, he played with the premise of Clara opening a gift that releases myriad characters. “At first she is kind of intimidated and scared. She dances with every one of the visitors, and gives them the gift of a flower and befriends them. After that, she realizes it was silly to be scared.”
New additions this year include updated visual projections for the second act by stage manager Jason King. Destrooper wanted more variation than many Nutcrackers offer, which is something he knows more about than most. Destrooper danced in The Nutcracker with Royal Winnipeg Ballet — John Neumeier’s version, one of the hardest Nutcrackers in the world. He also danced in Mikko Nissinen’s version when he was with Winnipeg Ballet, and danced in two separate versions with the Alberta Ballet, in addition to George Balanchine’s 1954 version with Oregon Ballet Theatre.
“When I decided to create my own Nutcracker, I could avoid all the things I wasn’t a fan of. Nissinen’s version had a lot of magic, but none of the other ones did. I knew I needed to come up with some magic elements, some 21st- century connotations so that the audience — children, in particular — can respond to that.”
But he didn’t want to alter everything, which would have rendered it unrecognizable. “At the same time, I kept some of the beautiful classical tradition. It brings together several generations, and people who may not be familiar with ballet. It’s not the old dusty pantomime.”
