Russian Nutcracker a debut in America

— A time-honored production gets a new principal.

Alexandra Elagina, a soloist at Jalil State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tatarstan, has just joined the Moscow Ballet’s East Coast tour of The Great Russian Nutcracker.

It’s a Russian-style staging of the late-19th-century ballet that composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffman.

Elagina is making her North American debut dancing the central role of Masha (whom American choreographer George Ballanchine renamed Clara), the young girl who receives a magical nutcracker as a Christmas present from her mysterious uncle.

Partner Anatolie Ustimov, who toured with Moscow Ballet in 2009, has risen to the role of the Nutcracker Prince, who takes her to what in this production is the Land of Peace and Harmony.

They’ll be in Arkansas this week, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Alma Performing Arts Center, 103 E. Main St., Alma - tickets $20, $25 and $30; call (479) 632-2129 or visitthe website, almapac.org - and at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Robinson Center Music Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway, Little Rock - tickets $27.50-$67.50 plus Ticketmaster handling charges; call (800) 745-3000 or visit nutcracker.com.

“I am very happy to have the honor to dance here,” Elagina said prior to her first performance Nov. 13 in West Point, N.Y., through interpreter Svetlana Todinova, who dances the role of the Dove of Peace. “Yes, I am a little bit nervous.”

The tour wraps up Dec. 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Unlike American Claras, who generally spend most of the second act lounging about watching various inhabitants of the Land of the Sweets performing regional variations, in The Great Russian Nutcracker, Masha carries a considerable portion of the solo load, including “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”

Elagina, who has touring experience in Europe, says she is not daunted by havingto find her way across a new stage practically every night, as she will have to do for the next couple of months.

“That is a normal thing for us,” she says. “This is our job. I can dance anywhere on any stage.”

That’s pretty much also the case for Eugenie Tkach,who dances the role of the nasty Rat King, with whom the Nutcracker Prince does first-act battle (Masha helps decide the outcome with a shoe to the Rat King’s head).

“Another day, another Rat King,” he agrees, with a laugh, through the translator, who laughs as well. “That’s just mywork.”

Tkach also does double duty as the Harlequin, one of the life-size dancing dolls Uncle Drosselmeier brings to entertain the gathering at Masha’s family’s Christmas party. It’s his first time in the role, and he says the techniques it requires are considerably different from those of the Rat King.

“This one I do like a robot, like a puppet,” he explains, noting that it requires, among other things, pirouettes - “a lot.” And, unlike the Rat King, he doesn’t have to worry about being hit in the head by Masha’s footwear.

In each city the tour visits, up to 60 local children fill in various roles - party children, mice, angels, snowflakes and frames for the secondact national variations. Little Rock School of Dance is the host studio.

Playing party guests: Hannah Shuptrine, Ian Fickling, Jessica Jennings, Christian Boekhout, Bonnie Julian, Blaine Teague, Lauren Oury, Kodie Brown, Tia Tisdale, Jamie Hammers, Lindsey Cook and Anna McCasland.

Mice: Abby Litwa, Kyla Lucas, Terry Anne Julian, Caroline Martine, Thunder Crump, Heather Schay, Skye Jones, Josie Fitz and Ashley Joseph.

Snowflakes: Mary Clark Allen, Chloe Berryhill, Kylee Peace, Lillie Tretter, Ella Baxter, Conley Edwards, DrewDowdy, Cassidy King, Anna Sayadian, Liliana Boekhout, Francesca Lopes and Ashley Dunn.

Angels: Julia Lunsford, Natalie Jennings, Lydia Fitch, Lily McDonough, Claire Shuptrine, Hailey Dabbs, Zoie Keys, Izzy Saettele, Cora Ashley, Addison Dowdy, Ally McCasland and Savanah Godwin.

Butterflies: Kathryn Hemphill, Rachel Widmer, Patricia Lambe and Holly Joseph.

In Act II, Lindsey Dawson, Emma Allen, Bethany Crum and Lindsey Cook will be part of the Spanish variation. Chinese: Katelyn Jones, Olivia Ridout, Campbell Marlow and Bailey Hunter; Russian: Jordan Phipps, Blayne Jobe, Nicole Lunsford, Kaitlyn Stark, Ali McClellan and Mary Margaret McClellan; Arabian: Sara Duvall and Jill Derininger; and French: Michelle Xu and Chloe Porter.

The Arabian variation will feature Sergey Chumakov and Elena Petrichenko, who according to a Moscow Ballet news release, are “known for their daredevil moves combining the line and beauty of ballet with the showmanship of the circus.”

Style, Pages 55 on 11/21/2010

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