Behind the Sugar Plum Fairy -- Virtual Advent Blog Tour -- 6th year

Welcome, Virtual Advent Tourists!

This is my sixth year participating, and I'm so glad that Marg and Kelly have launched such a wonderful holiday tradition into the blogosphere. It continues to be a highlight of my season.

I blogged previously during the 2009 Virtual Advent Tour about my love of ballet and The Nutcracker in particular. I can never get enough of it!

Is The Nutcracker a Christmas tradition for you, as it is for me?

Are you lucky enough to live in a large city with a professional dance company? Is a live performance of this ballet classic one of the things your soul can't live without every year, as it is for me?

I have a large collection of Nutcracker-themed Christmas ornaments, including a Clara, the Mouse King, a Sugarplum Fairy, some Snowflakes, some Waltz of the Flowers figures and a Harlequin doll. I'm always looking to add more.

Aside from writing and film, ballet is my truest passion. I studied ballet when I was a younger, uninjured version of me. When dancing myself was no longer an option, I was lucky enough to get a job as an usher at the theatre that was at that time the home of the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto.

For eight years, my Christmas season revolved around the performances of The Nutcracker, and I got to see so many wonderful behind-the-scenes aspects of what it means to be the Sugarplum Fairy in a production such as this.

For those of you who may already have your tickets for this year's performance, who may hum many of the pieces from the score by Tchaikovsky -- here is a backstage peek at one of the women who dons the famous tutu and tiara of the Sugarplum Fairy. 

"When I'm onstage, I'm not really thinking about the steps anymore," says principal dancer Heather Ogden. "I want to be hearing the music and letting my body remember the steps by itself and move with the music, and enjoy the story and bring a character to life."

"The Nutcracker in many companies is the staple at Christmastime, and it's rare to come back to a role every year. So it's really nice to do the Sugarplum Fairy, because you get to revisit it so often. I've found a level of comfort where I feel like I can really enjoy telling the story."

Ruth Bartel, resident cutter in the National Ballet of Canada's wardrobe department, gives an in-depth look at how a tutu is built: "We build our costumes to last for twenty-five to thirty years...A tutu something like this, the Sugarplum, could be as much as thirty-five hundred dollars."

Heather Ogden is the featured Sugarplum Fairy in this piece.

~~~

Did you always wonder what it would feel like to be the Sugarplum Fairy?

5 on Friday - Set 97

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Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This week takes me on a little stroll down holiday memory lane.

These pieces are newer versions of those that were once on my Christmas cassette tapes, or are from tapes that I associate with Christmas because that's when I played them. And when I say tapes, I mean wa-a-y-y back in the 80s when I used to listen to them on my ghetto blaster, in my bedroom.

1 - Arioso by J.S. Bach - Noa Gabay and Megan Morris

I used to have this absolutely lovely tape of harp music. It was dark pink with an 18th century white-wigged lady on the front. I tended to play that tape excessively once Christmas rolled around.



2 - Yuletide Garland - Liona Boyd

My family used to have this collection of Christmas music by Canadian classical guitarist Liona Boyd. Somehow it seemed to make its way to Toronto with me when I moved out on my own in my early twenties.



3 - Sleigh Ride from Three German Dances by Mozart - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

This piece was on a classical music tape that wasn't geared toward the holidays, but I used to cue this one up when I was listening to Christmas music.



4 - Waltz of the Snowflakes by Tchaikovsky - Kirov Ballet Orchestra

Obviously, where would my Christmas be without The Nutcracker? It has been a part of my musical Christmas landscape since I was a small child, when my sister and I opened up a gift addressed to both of us--a double album of the full ballet score by the London Symphony Orchestra.





5 - Believe in Your Dreams and They'll All Come True - From the 1974 Little Mermaid soundtrack, composed by Ron Goodwin

Here in Halifax when I was growing up, the local TV station always broadcast a trio of Oscar Wilde-based animated specials at Christmastime:

The Happy Prince
The Selfish Giant
The Little Mermaid

These weren't Christmas specials in the literal sense, but each story revolved around the values of the Christmas season. In The Little Mermaid especially, the music has always stayed with me--so much so, that when I've needed a cheerleading boost for myself when things weren't working out, I've often turned to this song.

It begins at the 8:20 mark and runs to the 10:50 mark.

5 on Friday - 46

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

On this most special day - my favorite day of the year - I hope that your own Christmas is special and magical.

1 - Christmas medley: It's the Holiday Season/Baby it's Cold Outside(Elf)/Have Yourself a Merry Little/It's Christmas Time Again in NYC - The Rockettes



2 - Children's Irish Step Dancing - Christmas Celtic Sojourn




3 - Casse-Noisette (The Nutcracker) / Snow Adagio - Paris Opera Ballet Orchestra



4 - The Skater's Waltz - Jojo Starbuck and Ken Shelley



5 - Morgenblätter Walzer (Morning Papers Waltz) - Vienna Philharmonic

Through the Opera Glasses - 41 - Virtual Advent Tour 2009

Welcome to today's special post for my Through the Opera Glasses arts feature.

Today is my offering on the Virtual Blog Tour, hosted by Kailana and Marg.





My stop on the tour takes us to the ballet that started it all for me, as it does for so many other people - The Nutcracker.






















This is the double album that my sister and I discovered under the Christmas tree in the early 70's. The full ballet score - no Nutcracker Suite, no sirree. I can't tell you how many hours I sat crosslegged on the rug in front of the stereo, gazing endlessly at this illustration on the album's front cover while I listened to every note of this magical work.


















When I grew up and moved from Canada's east coast to Toronto, I somehow managed to get a job as an usher at the theatre where The National Ballet of Canada then performed. I started work in November, during the run of Swan Lake, so I was just in time for my first season of working the Nutcracker.

During my eight years at the theatre, I watched nearly every performance of the Nutcracker. The other ushers would get sick of it after the initial novelty wore off, but not me. Even when I was stationed somewhere outside the theatre, like the front doors to rip tickets or at the bottom of the lobby stairs to cover a reception, I would spend my break inside watching the performance.














These are my dear friends Alan and Jacquie, who can vouch for the depth of my ballet passion.

We're sitting at the pass door, which an usher would guard and allow only theatre or company members to pass through, while showing - you guessed it - an official pass.

For today's Advent post, I want to share a simply heartrending and exquisite piece of music from the Nutcracker, the adagio from the grand pas de deux which comes near the end of the ballet.

This is one of my favorite pieces of music. I'd always wondered what it was doing in the middle of a children's holiday ballet, but Tchaikovsky wrote it only a few years before his death, with only ten more works to follow. During the spring of 1891 as he worked on the music for Act II, where the grand pas de deux takes place, Tchaikovsky lost his sister, with whom he was very close. This gorgeous adagio so filled with adoration and longing makes more sense when viewed in that context.

Before we get to the Nutcracker adagio, I'll let two dancers from the Anaheim Ballet describe the process of creating a seamless dance partnership which shines during the pas de deux.



And here is the piece itself, choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev for the Paris Opera Ballet.

The Prince is danced by Jérémie Bélingard. What a hunkamaniac.

Dancing the role of Clara is Myriam Ould-Braham. Her technique is filled with animation.

The ballet was first performed in St. Petersberg, Russia at the Mariinsky Theatre on December 18, 1892.



"Tchaikovsky's (initial) skeptical attitude towards a lowly genre was ousted by an attentive interest in its unused creative possibilities.

Given Tchaikovsky's unusual thinking which created dancing poetry, his tendency to portray action in musical-scenic works, and a desire to embody real and eternal feelings in the world of art, this could not but find an outlet in the genre of ballet music." - Olga Gerdt, History of Russian Ballet

To visit the other bloggers posting on the Tour today, visit:

Annabel at Gaskella

Heather at Book Obsessed

Sprite at Sprite Writes

Melissa says The Nutcracker is one of my favorite ballets, too; like you, the novelty never wears off!

Sprite says Ooh! I love the video clips! I particularly was struck by the physics of the jumping backwards while moving forwards bit.

Krissi says What a beautiful memory and experience. Merry Christmas.

Thursday Thirteen - 136 - 13 of My Favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments

- 1











This is one of the first Christmas ornaments I ever bought for myself. I love her as much today as the first time she took my breath away when I saw her in the store over at Halifax Shopping Center.


- 2











You will see a rather strong ballet theme among my Christmas ornaments. This Sugar Plum Fairy was another of the first ornaments I bought for myself when I worked my first job at the Halifax Simpson's in the Candy and Pastry department. I found her over at the competition, Eaton's. Simpson's and Eaton's are now things of the past, but those memories come along with this ballerina when she comes out of her wrapping.


- 3











These two ornaments come from Toronto, where I lived in my 20's and midway into my 30's. I bought the Christmas Fairy with gift money from my brother-in-law, Jeff, and I bought the Mouse King at the Ballet Boutique at the theatre where I used to work, during one of the runs of The Nutcracker.


- 4











This is one of a motherlode of gorgeous ornaments my husband Brad spoiled me with, several Christmases ago. He got them at Crabtree & Evelyn, which used to be a favorite store to gaze into, though I was incredibly allergic to the fragrance in the stores themselves.


- 5











This is a stuffed Snowman from Raymond Briggs' animated special which my sister gave me. We love The Snowman.

Beside him is another little snowman from my Best Friend Forever, Connie.


- 6











This is one of a trio of glass birds given to me when I worked as a live-in nanny in Toronto for the woman who became my dear friend Donna.


- 7











This Waltz of the Flowers ballerina was sent to me by my mother-in-law in a Toronto-to-Halifax Christmas postal delivery.


- 8











This is one of my early, just-moved-to-Toronto ornaments. Pierrots and Harlequins are big faves of mine, and I need a Harlequin for Act One from The Nutcracker, when Drosselmeyer winds up his toys for the children's party.

He's hanging out with a Christmas version of Raggedy Anne and Andy, which is actually a keychain I bought at the dollar store where I worked when we lived in Yarmouth for a few years. And beside him is the Charlie-in-the-Box from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Brad and I stumbled onto a whole set of these collectible figures at Winners here in Halifax a few years ago, for a totally crazy price.


- 9











This is a clear Ice ballerina from the Snow Kingdom whom Clara meets following the battle between the Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King. Mom gave her to me for my first Yarmouth Christmas, when I was missing my job at the ballet so terribly. Beside her is a silver ballerina I bought a few years ago to be another dancer from the Snow Kingdom.


- 10











This golden ballerina was part of a set along with the silver dancer. She's from the Sugar Plum Fairy's kingdom. The Snowflake Fairy is from the Snow Kingdom part of The Nutcracker - I found her at Park Lane in Halifax a few years ago. As you can see, my Christmas is completely entwined with The Nutcracker.


- 11















I have a few Nutcracker decorations which aren't for the tree. I bought this wooden Nutcracker early on, before my move to Toronto. But of course he came there with me. The egg was an anniversary present to me from Brad, and stands in for the beautiful Faberge egg set in The National Ballet of Canada's version which can be seen at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. The Gingerbread Lady is part of a salt & pepper shaker set my mother-in-law was selling at an outdoor antiques market in Ontario. When I obviously loved it, she took it off the table and gave it to me.


- 12















Of course, for me Christmas is also tied to the Rankin Bass TV specials from my childhood, like Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, featuring Fred Astaire's Special Delivery man.


- 13











I also love blown glass ornaments like this seahorse I bought last year at Historic Properties in Halifax.

Every year I buy myself a new ornament - sometimes two. Not everything makes it onto the tree because I'd need half a dozen trees for every ornament to make it onto a branch. That might be in my future. Who knows?

My mom's tree is up and decorated upstairs, and Brad and I will get our tree up this weekend. All of these shots were taken of last year's tree. Is yours up? And what is your own favorite ornament?

Janet says Love the bird! I have a few of those, too :-)

Journeywoman says Love the Fred Astaire one.

Adelle Laudan says When I suggested we get a set of matching decorations next year, my girls gasped in horror lol

Thursday Thirteen - 34 - 13 of My Favorite Musical Pieces From Christmas Specials

1 - Christmas Time is Here

'A Charlie Brown Christmas'

Couldn't get a clip from the animated special that played the entire piece of music, so I went with a snowy montage instead.





2 - Walking in The Air

Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman'










3 - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'












4 - Snow Miser/Heat Miser Song

'The Year Without a Santa Claus'
















5 - Put One Foot In Front Of The Other

'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'










6 - What's This?

'The Nightmare Before Christmas'











7 - There's Always Tomorrow

'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'











8 - Believe In Your Dreams And They'll All Come True





'The Little Mermaid', narrated by Richard Chamberlain







9 - Snow, Frost, The North Wind and Hail arrive in the Garden

'The Selfish Giant'










10 - Good King Wenceslas




'The Christmas Messenger'







11 - Welcome Christmas/Trim Up the Tree"

'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'









12 - A Holly Jolly Christmas

'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'






13 - Grand Pas de Deux

'The Nutcracker'

If you watch this one, my favorite music actually starts at 1:45 into it. As soon as the two principals begin the pas de deux, those glorious strings start up, my heart squeezes and I'm in shivery heaven no matter how many times I've heard it or watched it. What is this lush, romantic music doing in a children's ballet?

Enjoy the greatest dancer ever!

5 Things Most People Don't Know About Me

I got tagged with this one on Friday, but saved it for today:

1 - Most people don't know that I was born in Texas. In an army hospital, to be exact. My late father served in the US Army even though he was Canadian. As a registered alien, he was required to serve, so he joined rather than be drafted. So I entered the world at the Fort Hood army hospital in Killeen, Texas.

2 - Most people don't know that I have Mi'kmaq ancestry. The Mi'kmaq are the First Nation people here on Canada's east coast. Both sides of my family are Acadian, which is the French culture of the Atlantic provinces. Many Acadians married Mi'kmaq partners in the very early days, absorbing them into their European traditions. I have several Mi'kmaqs in my genealogy chart but don't have proper names for them, as all the females were renamed 'Marie'.

3 - Most people don't know that I have Phone-Out Phobia. I'm not sure what the actual name for it would be. But I used to work with someone who also shared my same problem. We both hate to call people. It doesn't matter who it is. It's not as bad when I call my husband or my best friend, but anyone else and I have to force myself to pick up the receiver. The stress level is in the High Agitation Zone. Answering the phone is fine. Calling out is bad. And my former co-worker also hates to go through drive-throughs. Both of us park and go inside to order. It's the disembodied voices - we can't take it.

4 - Most people don't know that my love of all things Christmas usually means there's a few Christmas items lurking about our apartment in full view during most of the year. Like the Nutcracker standing on top of my china cabinet. I love him being there, no matter if it's April. I don't get too many people dropping by the apartment, as my husband has bipolar disorder and can get worn out by company. We try to keep socializing outside of our home so that it's always a haven for him. So I can leave Christmas up as long as I want.

5 - Most people don't know that I don't have a digital camera. They know I love taking pictures. They know I have an addiction to buying photo albums and frames. But I have a camera that takes 35mm film. I'm old fashioned, that way.

And now you know!