Thursday, December 03, 2020
Land of the Bittersweet: COVID's Effect on Nutcracker
Pointe: To some dancers, a winter without The Nutcracker may seem like a gift. No Tchaikovsky on an endless loop. No missing real parties to dance in the party scene. No pulling fake snow out of your hair. It's the stuff that burned-out ballerinas might dream about in mid-December.
But, true to E.T.A. Hoffmann's original "Nutcracker and Mouse King," sometimes gifts are broken, and dreams are not as they seem. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies into nightmare scenarios to keep audiences and dancers safe: canceling or rethinking entire seasons, including the hallmark Nutcracker.
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It is difficult that most companies have to rely on productions like “The Nutcracker” or “A Christmas Carol” at the end of the year for their entire year to be get out of debt. A lot of groups have also been struggling with finding ways of supporting new arts and artists even before the current epidemic. It’s a shame there is no national foundation of the arts, or any substantially supported government funded program that could be helping lift all of the arts programs in this dire time. Big companies should have enough money to slog through this terrible season, small companies might be nimble enough to find ways and make it work, it’s the medium companies that are established but without enough winter fat to survive this that are probably going to suffer the hardest.
I hope now is the Time when we start establishing new end of your traditions and finding better sources of annual income so that we don’t have to rely on a few blockbuster shows between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Period of course once all of the Covid lockdowns are over I expect theaters and ballet companies turn out only have content ready but to be inundated with fans who have missed out on their live entertainment.
The pandemic has forced upon need norms that have definitely been strange and difficult to adapt to this year. I think, especially with the holiday season approaching with so many expected traditions to partake in, it’s sad to think of all the ones we won’t be able to do this year, and most likely in the years to come as well, due to this pandemic unfortunately. I remember seeing the nutcracker for the first time, and it is still one of my favorite performances I’ve seen. Staple/infamous performances like the nutcracker or the rockettes, are ones that are never forgotten and really have become an element of tradition for some people. It will definitely been missed and I know a lot of people are very disappointed to hear this. There is not much else we can do other than look forward to the time where we do get the chance to experience the nutcracker and performances similar.
I never thought about how repetitive the nutcracker is an how much of a nightmare it must be for professional ballerina and dancers to have to perform the same show and listen to the same songs every year. Every winter, as i would walk across Lincoln Center to go to school, I would see towering posters of the New York City Ballet's production of the Nutcracker and always thought how wonderful this staple was to the holiday season. This article brought to light a very somber topic though: what would normally be a dream for performers to not person the Nutcracker this year has circumstances and context that has the entire future of some performance venues and companies at stake. These seasonal performances, such as The Nutcracker or the Radio City Christmas Spectacular have become a source of tradition for many families during the holidays and it will be hard to have to go this year without them.
I have worked on at least 6 productions of “The Nutcracker”. I do think it’s time for new traditions and new classics to come to the forefront of the holiday season and while the article is for a dance magazine that focuses on dancers, what people continue to do is gloss over the fact that it is not just dancers that are impacted. Designers, props, costumers, technical directors, carpenters, electricians, etc. are all out of work this holiday season as well. But yes, let’s say oh the poor dancers. It’s the same as saying all those poor out of work actors. Putting it politely, it’s irritating to no end. Yes, I feel for the actors and the dancers, but my focus is on my side of the curtain. Any conversation about canceling shows needs to also take into account the impact of the people behind the scenes. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t immediately jump to the aid of dancers and their loss of a beloved holiday tradition.
I do not think anyone could predict back in March that this pandemic would be impacting us still, during the holiday season as we come up on 2021. It is truly unfortunate to hear that the Nutcracker is such a support to the ballet, as the pandemic will prevent it from making likely even a fraction of what it would normally make during the season. It makes me wonder what will happen to this industry next year when they experience the loss of that financial support. I hope that the ballet gets some kind of assistance from somewhere, as I feel like losing the main breadwinner will be extremely detrimental to next years seasons, until we can see another traditional, live Nutcracker. I truly don’t know of any virtual solution that could supply the same impact that this performance typically does. Unfortunately, the saying things must get worse before they get better applies to this scenario.
I honestly had no clue how important the Nutcracker is to many companies and venues. I always wondered why companies would put on the same show every year around the same time especially because that seems really boring as a dancer who has to be in it every year. I never thought this pandemic was going to last until December and honestly I do not think most dance companies did either. It also heartbreaking to think about how much money these companies have lost during the pandemic and how they will be losing their source of stability for the next season as well. So many people are out of work with these shows and production being shut down and the companies are having to bear that stress rather than the government. Frankly the government took way too long to handle this virus and they are still doing an awful job, bailing out these big companies that are still keeping afloat during the pandemic is unfair to all the smaller companies that are in industries that physically cannot do anything. I hope these companies get support and it may be interesting to see Nutcracker production whenever this pandemic is over, regardless of what time of the year it is.
This just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it. I know that it is time for the Nutcracker to be replaced by something that is more inclusive and just something new, but it really is sad that this is how it had to go, especially since nothing could replace it this season. That being said, there are so many local theatres where I grew up that truly relied on the income that came from their Nutcracker productions to continue from season to season. It will be even harder for them to be able to revive themselves, especially considering that they are already barely scraping by during their normal season. I feel for every person involved in these productions at all levels. Whether it is a prima ballerina in a professional company or a choreographer of a kids production of the show, everyone’s experience with this pieces matters, and I hope we can all make it through.
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