The History of The Nutcracker Ballet

Christmas brings holiday dance recitals for many ballet studios, including Catherine’s Dance Studio,  as well as other cultural traditions in the season. A 60-year-old custom now for many people in the U.S. each December is attending The Nutcracker Ballet. As all traditions go, the history of The Nutcracker is rich.

Originally titled ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’, this ballet had its first performance on Sunday, December 18, 1892, in the town of St. Petersburg, Russia. Believe it or not, this original production was not a success. Critics were harsh in their opinions of the dancers and the scenes in the ballet itself. They were disappointed that the ballet did not accurately reflect the original story by E.T.A Hoffman. They did not like the fact that ‘children’ were the focus of this ballet and that the main ballerina did not dance until late in the production. The transitions between scenes were also planned by critics.  They did find the score of the production to be one of the better elements of the ballet. Although the ballet was panned by the critics in general, the 20-minute suite that was extracted from the ballet was not. The first performance of The Nutcracker outside of Russia was in 1934 in England. A shortened version of the original Russian Ballet was first performed in New York City in 1940. The ballet first full performance in the U.S. was December 24, 1944, by the San Francisco Ballet. The New York City Ballet had its first performance in 1954. Since the 1960’s the tradition of ballet companies performing the full Nutcracker Ballet has spread through the rest of the United States.

Since the 1960’s the Nutcracker Ballet has been enjoyed by audiences all over the world. Performed by ballet companies small and large, mostly at Christmas time, most American Ballet companies find that 40% of the monies they take in to support their ballet companies are due to their performances of The Nutcracker Ballet.

The score of The Nutcracker was written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He was also the first Russian composer to gain international recognition. One of his first appearances as a conductor in the U.S was at Carnegie Hall in 1891. His score for The Nutcracker was one of his most famous. There are many choreographed versions of The Nutcracker. This is mainly due to the fact that choreographers have made their own versions. Famous choreographers who have adapted the original production of The Nutcracker include dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov to name a few.

This December will mark the 42^nd year that The Kansas City Ballet will perform The Nutcracker, and for the 2^nd year, The Kauffman Center for Performing Arts will be the venue.

Performances of the Ballet will take place December 7 at 2:00 pm through December 24^th at 1:00 pm. Tickets are available through Kansas City Ballet website.

The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition for many families in Kansas City. Be sure to enjoy it this season!