THE GIFT OF THE NUTCRACKER
Where: Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St.
When: Dec. 28-30
Tickets: $18.50-$100 from the Royal McPherson box office (250-386-6121) or rmts.bc.ca
The Gift of the Nutcracker has been on the road in sa国际传媒 since Dec. 14, with Ballet Victoria taking its annual touring production to Maple Ridge, Chilliwack and Maple Ridge over the course of a two-week period.
The company’s updated version of Tchaikovsky’s classic two-act ballet comes home tonight with a distinct sense of pomp and circumstance about the proceedings. It’s akin to saving the best for last for Paul Destrooper, Ballet Victoria’s longtime artistic director.
“By the time we get to Victoria, the performances are honed in,” Destrooper said. “Every year it’s different, so by the time we finish in Victoria we have it very solid.”
The perennial Victoria family tradition features music by the Victoria Symphony, under the baton of Giuseppe Pietraroia, along with 14 company dancers from Ballet Victoria and more than 30 young ballet students from the Ballet Victoria Conservatory.
The participation of the Victoria Symphony, which does not travel to other locations on the tour, will make the nighttime performance on Friday and afternoon performances Sunday and Monday all the more special, Destrooper said. “It never gets boring, because there’s always something to strive for. But it is always more inspiring when you perform with the symphony.”
Revamped choreography and costumes are among the new additions in 2024. There’s a push within Ballet Victoria, which was founded in 2002, to update The Gift of the Nutcracker with each passing year — a task that more often than not falls on the shoulders of Destrooper.
He’s up to the challenge, and takes pride each year in tweaking the production in various ways, specifically for the longtime supporters who take in the Christmas favourite each December.
“As the dancers develop, we make the work more interesting to everyone. The audience can come every year and every year there can be something different. When you’re a small company, you have to build it over the years. We add more production values as the budget allows, which keeps my costume and projection designers busy.”
