Very Young Dancers
December 2, 2018 10:46 AM   Subscribe

One reason City Ballet’s 1954 production of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” remains enchanting has to do with the delightful children who appear in it: 126 students, ages 8 to 12, from the City Ballet-affiliated School of American Ballet are participating this year. They all carry their share of responsibility - but here's what it's like to be the Nutcracker Prince, and Marie in New York City Ballet's Nutcracker.
posted by ChuraChura (2 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thank you for this, I hadn't thought about it in a long time. My feelings about Balanchine and his influence on the culture of American ballet are rather complicated, but I've always thought that it was wonderful to have so many young dancers in the production.

I still have my copy of A Very Young Dancer. The photos from the NYT piece look almost exactly the same as those in the book, probably due to the practice uniforms. It was a little chilling, but not unpleasant.
posted by monopas at 11:50 PM on December 2, 2018


They move beautifully, and will move even more beautifully as adults. I hope it doesn't cost them too much. Dancers can wind up with far more rational and level-headed attitudes toward their bodies and their sexuality than most of us, or with chronic anxiety about them, or, more often than seems possible, with both.
posted by ckridge at 7:10 AM on December 3, 2018


« Older How Global Warming Works   |   HUMAN the movie Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments