The Nutcraker as Christmas decoration

 

In the town centre of Jesi, in the Marche Region, there has been an invasion of coloured, funny, soldiers as decoration of the main shops. In one shop two of these soldiers even appear in the window. What can this mean? Is Jesi being militarised?

No, it is not. I believe these funny-looking soldiers represent the nutcracker in the shape of a soldier that is one of the protagonists of a now famous ballet, called precisely The Nutcracker. Based on Alexandre Dumas, father’s story for children which, at the same time, was based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s dark tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, the ballet was choreographed by Marius Petipa, with the assistance of Lev Ivanov to Pitor Tchaikovsky’s stunning music and was performed for the first time in 1892.

It is divided into two acts and tells the story of the child Clara who receives a present on Christmas Eve, a present which is a nutcracker in the shape of a soldier. As she falls asleep the nutcracker becomes a man, a prince who, together with an army of other soldiers, engages in a battle against a group of mice, headed by the terrible Mouse King. Clara helps to kill the King with her slipper and goes with her prince to the Land of Sweets. There she meets various characters, among whom there is chocolate, exemplified by a Spanish dance, coffee, exemplified by an Arabic dance and tea, exemplified by a Chinese dance. Then there is the Sugar Plum fairy who dances a beautiful solo and who is sometimes interpreted by the same dancer who performs Clara. In some versions, at the end, Clara wakes up so as to say that the battle against the mice and the adventure in the Land of Seets were all a dream.

In the ballet there are some scenes that are now considered racist, like the representation of the Chinese dancers embodying tea. According to Ronald Alexander, 

The whole ballet tradition is inherently racist, so the traditional productions of Nutcracker can also be seen as racist. In many versions of Nutcracker, one sees overt racial stereotypes. In the second-act divertissements, many of the dances or variations are borderline caricatures, if not downright demeaning. For example, the way in which Asians have been portrayed in the Chinese variation—with heads bobbing up and down, index fingers protruding, and happy smirks of joy plastered on the dancers’ faces—is insulting and embarrassing. (Alexander quoted in Anonymous, 2013).

Various productions are attempting to change this aspect, but the question remains as to whether a tradition even though it bears a stereotype should be changed or kept for historical purposes. I think it should be changed as history can be told in books or other places, but living bodies on stage should represent something that reflects our time, not a racist past.

Returning to the Nutcracker, according to Mariella Guatterini, dancewise, it is characterised by three main waltzes: the waltz of the snowflakes, poetic and fast paced, the celebrated waltz of the flowers, sweet and harmonious and the final waltz, “the transfiguration itself of the idea of waltz” (Guatterini, 1998: 113).

Because it is set during the Christmas Eve, the ballet is being performed during this time of the year in many parts of the world. In a way, it has become a symbol for Christmas and that is why those funny-looking soldiers decorate the shops of Jesi’s town centre. It is a pity that there is no Nutcracker being performed in town and one wonders how many people do actually know the connection between the Nutcracker and Christmas to fully appreciate said soldiers. 

 

References

Anonymous,  "Burning Question: Is Nutcracker Racist?, Dance Magazine, 30 November 2013.

Guatterini, Marinella, L'ABC del balletto - La storia, i passi, i capolavori (Milan: Mondadori, 1998).