Dance Reviews : Westside Ballet ‘Nutcracker’ at Royce Hall

A lot of the magic has drained out of the Westside Ballet “Nutcracker,” seen Saturday afternoon in Royce Hall, UCLA.

The production always was modest, conventional, carefully constructed and resourcefully geared toward serving as a training arm of the Westside School of Ballet.

Co-choreographers and school directors Yvonne Mounsey and Rosemary Valaire managed to create choreography that pleased an adult audience while challenging (without overwhelming)the dancers at their various ages and technical levels. But they also took ruinous shortcuts in staging.

The Christmas tree didn’t grow wondrously. While Tchaikovsky’s music roiled and surged under Barry Ames Anderson’s skillful direction, the stage merely went dark; when the lights came back on, one saw that a large tree had been substituted for a smaller one.

Nor did the Nutcracker undergo a transformation after the battle with the mice. The dancer simply walked off stage with Nutcracker mask in place and walked back on without it.

However, 14-year-old Monique Meunier danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy with poise, ease and amplitude of phrasing and a sense of style beyond her years. Mark Bush provided attentive, discreet partnering as her cavalier.

Yohanna Ragins made a lyrical Dew Drop Fairy, William Andre an energetic if blurry Russian dancer. But Holly Morrow and Alonzo Hanlon looked strangely distressed as the Snow Queen and her Cavalier. Stephanie Southwick was an involved Clara. But it wasn’t enough.