Staten Island Ballet's The Nutcracker at CSI

Today we went to see The Nutcracker at CSI (College of Staten Island), and I have to say that while I had big hopes for this show, deep down I knew that I was going to be disappointed.

While the stage was very small, and as such limiting the possibilities, it shouldn't have limited the performance itself. I mean, if you are a strong and confident ballerina, you will dance amazingly no matter where. Right? What the size of the stage might have compromised is the number of people that could have been on it, and in big stage productions a lot more ballerinas on stage usually means a great visual feast. 

Being a small theater production this Nutcracker should be reviewed differently than huge city productions, and while I will try to keep that in mind, I can't help having a few grievances nonetheless: 

1) Lack of great visuals. The Nutcracker is so much about visuals! While the stage didn't need to have incredible props on it, the characters could have been a little more colorful, more whimsical, better dressed and oh my, that Nutcracker's face was really scary! And where was Mother Ginger with her huge dress? That would have been another great visual! 

2) Storyline. It wasn't always clear. Yes, sure, we all know the story, so even better when I tell you that it wasn't clear. The switch between the Nutcracker and the Prince wasn't clear. The Sugar Plum Fairy wasn't properly introduced, at first I thought she was just a snowflake. The end is not faithful to the original (was it a dream or not?) and it feels as if the question wanted to be completely avoided. Lastly, the mini pony was a weird "deus ex machina" only used to signal the end of an act (not fair to the pony). Maybe next time a focus group could help.

3) Too many pauses. Too many empty moments. There were so many parts of the ballet where this or that ballerina just stopped dancing and paused, almost as if to rest. And I don't mean that they stopped when they were supposed to dance, no, they stopped because it was part of the performance, but visually it didn't look good, it only made the dance sequence look chopped, lacking fluidity. 

4) Maybe I was sitting too close, but I saw too many legs shake, as in dancers having a hard time keeping their poses. Aren't ballerinas supposed to have the strongest legs? 

5) Weak expressions. In a ballet, where nobody talks, you want to make sure you give enough clues to the audience about what's going on. More than ballet moves translated into visual clues, many times I thought I was watching a silent movie, or mimes on stage. A scene at the beginning where little Clara draws a house in the air (instead of maybe simply pointing at the real house behind her) really made me cringe. 

6) Lack of coordination. This was a serious issue. So many times the coordination was off and at one point, Clara's "mother" bumped into another dancer during a number. A big no-no.

About the dancers: The Sugar Plum Fairy was a decent dancer but a little stiff at times, little Clara danced more like a doll than a girl (not fluid), big Clara had a look on her face that lacked confidence. At times the guys seemed the better dancers, but even they made mistakes: the Russian dancer could have been great, but after so many spins he must have gotten dizzy and slipped right at the end of his number, the prince was nothing special and many times was just holding Clara's hand and not dancing at all. One guy performed well, but I'm not sure how to identify him (short hair with curly on top), he danced one of the first "couple numbers". And my personal favorite was Drosselmeyer, he really looked like he belonged on that stage and he dominated it every time he was on it (even if he didn't do much dancing).

Some girls I did like (I'm not all bad, see?), I liked the leader of the Waltz of Flowers, with the hot pink tutu, very fluid and confident. I also liked a lot the Arabian dancer for the same reasons.

Am I being too critical? Maybe. But I found myself comparing this performance to a circus performance and I have to say that circus' numbers today are so complicated and dangerous that don't have room for mistakes, and they don't make any (when they do, someone usually dies). So if circus performers can go through a number impeccably, why couldn't these ballerinas? I felt we were applauding anytime the feet of this or that ballerina left the floor, as if any jump was something out of the ordinary, and that in itself is an indicator of the (bad) tenor of the performance. 

And there was no standing ovation at the end, which makes me feel less horrible for writing this review, because it makes me believe I was not the only one "slightly" disappointed.

I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad, all in all, my family had a good time, we watched a show very close to home and we were able to see some ballerinas up close and listen to great music (still stuck in my head hours later). What I am writing this for is to push you girls and guys a little. To push the ballet teachers, the students, the choreographer, the whole production in general, to rise above "this is just a small Staten Island production". This mentality is what keeps Staten Island "small". 

Sure the Staten Island Ballet is not the Martha Graham Dance Company nor the Mariinsky Ballet nor the New York City Ballet, but think about it, what do they have that the Staten Island Ballet doesn't have? Gold plated ballet barres? Magic shoes? Flying tutus? No. They have the confidence of being the best schools in the world, that's all (coupled of course with hours of gruesome practice).

Well, those are things that anyone else can have, as long as they really want them. Even a little ballerina from Staten Island, NY. So what are you waiting for? Go get them!

p.s. Next year I want more...  ;)