The Nutcracker

Pasodos Ballet company offered us the opportunity to attend the performance of their Christmas hit "The Nutcracker" in the auditorium of our school. The show "The Nutcracker Suite" is the short version of the most popular of all ballet classics. Originally released in 1892, the suite includes the eight most important dances of the second act of the ballet together with key moments from the first act. It was awesome!

Internationally renowned dancers filled the stage with famous dances such as the Waltz of the Flowers, the Snowflakes and the Russian Dance "Trepak". We were able to fully enjoy the story as important points about the work, its history, composition and choreography were explained.

In 2010 Pasodos premiered the full version of Nutcracker at the Teatro Principal de Palma and toured the island's public theaters. The performances were very successful but when dates coincided with the school break, there was little opportunity for children from schools to attend. For this reason in 2011 this school version of the ballet was designed, which can be represented directly in schools throughout the archipelago.

"The Nutcracker" is a fairy tale ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), composed in 1891-1892. Tchaikovsky set to music the story "The Nutcracker and the King of Mice" by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (staged by Marius Petipa and commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhski in 1891). In Western countries, "The Nutcracker" has become perhaps the most popular of all ballets, represented mainly at Christmas.

Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before its release in December 1892, forming "The Nutcracker Suite" designed to be played in concert. The suite was played under the composer's direction on March 19, 1892, during a meeting of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became popular since then, although the complete ballet did not achieve its great popularity until the 1960's.

The ballet premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia. There has been debate who directed the choreography specifically for the first performance. Although it was often attributed to Lev Ivanov, it is now believed to be by Marius Petipa.

Outside Russia, an abbreviated version of the ballet opened in 1927 at the Theatre Royal Opera in Budapest, this time with the choreographer Ede Brada. The first complete performance of the ballet outside Russia

was held in England in 1934, staged by Nicholas Sergeyev following the  original choreography by Petipa.

The first complete performance in America was in 1944, represented by San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director William Christensen. The New York City Ballet premiere of the theatrical production of "The Nutcracker" by George Balanchine took place in 1954. As a result, the tradition of performing the complete "Nutcracker"  during Christmas has spread throughout the United States.

The story has been published in many versions, some of them for children. The plot centers on a German girl named Clara Stahlbaum or Clara Silverhaus. In some performances of "The Nutcracker" Clara is called Marie or Mary.