In his 13th year as artistic director, Mills has enchanted OKC Ballet audiences with an annual rendition of “The Nutcracker” that remains faithful to the original libretto that premiered in 1892 at the Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Propelled by Pyotr Tchaikovsky's iconic score and adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the seasonal fantasy centers on a girl named Clara who goes on an adventure involving a mouse army, a spellbound Nutcracker Prince and a Sugar Plum Fairy after she receives a handcrafted nutcracker as a Christmas gift from the enigmatic Dr. Drosselmeyer.
She travels to a magical land where sweet treats like Spanish chocolate, Arabian coffee and Chinese tea dance for her enjoyment.
To best protect the patrons and dancers, Mills said "The Nutcracker: Short & Sweet" and the rest of the company's 2020-21 season shows will be performed in one act, run about an hour and be performed without intermission. The changes will be safer for eventgoers by eliminating crowding in the Civic Center lobby, bathrooms and concession areas during intermissions, but will also accommodate a radically altered rehearsal schedule for the company.
The dancers have been rehearsing and will be performing in two different groups, completely separate from each other since they began their season in October. OKC Ballet typically performs the first shows of its Civic Center season in October, but this year, the company canceled its fall production and pushed the start of the season to December due to the coronavirus pandemic.
All "The Nutcracker" cast members will wear masks on stage, and for the first time, no children will be included in the show.
"This will not be a business-as-usual year for Oklahoma City Ballet. Everything is changing. It's not only about the patrons, it's about how we keep our faculty safe, our dancers safe, all of our administration safe," Mills said.
"Our artists have to dance. They can't go long periods of time without doing it. They will lose the ability. This is about getting as many of our artists as possible out on stage to do not only what they love but what they've worked all of their lives to achieve. ... It's about getting them dancing and then also giving back to our community."
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December 06, 2020 at 08:30PM
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OKC Ballet celebrates the holidays with 'The Nutcracker: Short & Sweet' - Oklahoman.com
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