The season of The Nutcracker is upon us again, but if the classic is getting a little redundant, Ballet Jörgen Canada offers a surprising adaptation of the tale.
Ballet Jörgen’s original Nutcracker is set in a rural 1912 Ontario landscape. Klara and her loyal wooden friend embark together on a journey through the forest, which is filled with beavers, raccoons, loons, and other creatures identified with Canada.
“The base is very traditional, it’s just that we have changed the whole context and we’re telling a Canadian story,” said Bengt Jörgen, founder and artistic director of Ballet Jörgen Canada.
To make the story familiar to local audiences, the production incorporated winter scenes by the Group of Seven, Canada’s famed landscape painters. Paintings by Tom Thomson, Franklin Carmichael and Lionel L. Fitzgerald make up the show’s backdrops.
“It was such a natural fit to use them because the Group of Seven heralded a nationalistic sense of Canada as a country,” said Jörgen.
Engaging With Communities Across Canada
The inspiration for a Canadian Nutcracker came from the many regions Ballet Jörgen works with. The company has reached over 200 Canadian communities that range from small towns like Liverpool, Nova Scotia, to large metropolises such as Ottawa and Toronto.
It is one of the ballet company’s aims to work with different schools and enable students from any institution audition for its productions. In 2008, The Group of Seven Nutcracker came to the stage to connect with local communities by telling a story relevant to Canada.
The children take on simple yet demanding roles like chipmunks or bouncing frogs with green umbrellas, and often share the stage with professional dancers.
“Most professional ballet companies associate themselves with one school, and just take students from there,” Jörgen said.
However, Ballet Jörgen’s touring cast is assembled from 15 different schools in Guelph, Pickering, St. Thomas, Cambridge, Belleville and other cities in Ontario.
Nurturing Children’s Talents
Along with the other nine national educational programs, the company ensures the growth of local talent by often reaching out to small, second-tier cities. The results of auditioning, rehearsing and dancing in a professional production often nurture rewarding experiences within a child, Jörgen said.
“It matures children, it makes them more sensitive, and they certainly get more engaged with life and usually they have this exciting experience that stimulates their minds.”
Ballet Jörgen exposes children to the disciplined environment of a professional production and teaches youth that success comes with hard work. Once the kids get to feel the stage, Jörgen said it gives them a sense of ownership of the art. It’s a completely different experience from watching the show in the audience.
Ballet Jörgen Canada Nutcracker – A Canadian Tradition finished its two-day show in Toronto last week and is now on tour. The production will play at Brantford on Dec. 15, Ottawa Dec. 17-21, Windsor Dec. 23, Kitchener-Waterloo Dec. 28 and Markham Dec.29-30.
Ballet Jörgen performances are scheduled for other cities in early 2011. For more details, or to purchase tickets, visit the company’s website balletjorgen.ca.
