Quite Influential for an Evergreen

The man who staged the first full-length “Nutcracker” production in the United States--Willam Christensen for the San Francisco Ballet back in 1944--didn’t suspect that “Nutcracker” fever would settle in and take over the Christmas season. But by the 1980s, he had a clue, declaring, “It seems more like an epidemic than a tradition.”

And although it’s true that a December day without “Nutcracker” would probably improve the health of thousands of artistic directors and parents, it’s also true that the ballet continues to merrily launch a thousand careers and holiday celebrations. The Times asked a few notable “Nutcracker” fans to think about their first encounter with the ballet--love at first sight? Or maybe just friends?

More than a few mentioned George Balanchine’s 1954 New York City Ballet version, which had a seminal effect on the trend; others remember seeing a production--they don’t remember which company--at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the 1980s (the likely candidates then were the Joffrey Ballet or the now defunct Los Angeles Ballet). Still others, like most of America, first saw a small-town version, and several noted the difference between the ballet and the E.T.A. Hoffmann tale on which it was loosely based. They all ended up forging their own “Nutcracker” experiences in ways that Christensen, Balanchine--and Tchaikovsky--doubtless never imagined.

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MARK MORRIS, artistic director, Mark Morris Dance Group and choreographer of a “Nutcracker” set in the 1960s, “The Hard Nut”

The first “Nutcracker” I ever saw was “Fantasia” [the 1940 Disney animation film uses excerpts of the Tchaikovsky score], when I was little. I remember in the “Waltz of the Flowers” there were all these flowers falling in the water and a fairy that makes everything cold with frost. It’s so great, I can’t believe it. Then when I was about 15, I was in a very small production in Seattle. There were maybe 10 people in it, and I was in the Chinese dance, which was choreographed sort of loosely after “Fantasia” and the bouncing mushrooms. Three of us were in mushroom costumes that were really heavy, with caps that were on sticks. It was basically running around and changing heights. That’s all I remember of that--it was probably terrible. But the original “Fantasia” had great choreography, brilliant. That was my first one, and it’s, like, the best.

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FAYARD NICHOLAS, tap-dance legend

It was years ago when I saw my first “Nutcracker,” at the Dorothy Chandler. But long before I saw the ballet, I had an album of the music and I loved that music, so I loved seeing the ballet--I’ve always liked ballet. I’ve seen it in Pasadena since then, and I always watch it on television. So when the San Diego Ballet asked me to be in it in 1990, I was thrilled. I said, “What am I going to do in this thing?” And they said, “You just do a little tap dancing, that’s all.” So I was the tap dancing grandfather. And all the darling little children would greet me and bring out a dancing mat so I could tap dance. I had a one-of-a-kind experience choreographing to that music--whatever the melody was, I would fit my taps to go with it. I was the only tap dancer in the ballet, and I was on for the whole scene, acting in it too. I had a great time.

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DARCI KISTLER, principal dancer, New York City Ballet

The first “Nutcracker” I ever saw was when I was about 8 and dancing at Riverside Ballet Arts in Riverside, where I grew up. I remember it was so exciting seeing my teacher, Mary Lyn, dancing the Sugar Plum. I just found it so magical. I always wanted to be Clara, and I never was Clara, and I was never in the party scene, which is really my favorite section. I think Balanchine really captured the family and the spirit of children so well, the humor and playing and fighting. I’ve danced [Dewdrop and Sugar Plum Fairy] for years, but I’m not scheduled to do it this year, because I don’t think I could dance it up to par [Kistler is coming back from an injury]. But I always go--this year I’m seeing it three times. I never get tired of it, even though there’s no other music that we hear so much. Mr. Balanchine didn’t let its familiarity interfere with his enjoyment--I remember him telling me that the music is one of the greatest scores that Tchaikovsky wrote.

I think the Sugar Plum Fairy is one of my favorite roles. In Balanchine’s version, she’s a true classical ballerina, but also there’s a tenderness and a motherly part to the role. She’s a guardian to these children, and there’s this feeling of sending them off at the end. It’s one of the easiest roles to get back into, because “The Nutcracker” is part of my spirit--it’s like going back home and riding a bike. Every Christmas, I read the story to my little girl [Talicia, 4], and she comes to the ballet with her friends. Last year I danced with my family in the audience and that was my best “Nutcracker” ever, knowing my daughter was there, and she enjoyed it. It was very much what “The Nutcracker” is all about--dreams and family, and naughtiness, and all of that celebrating.

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VIJI PRAKASH, choreographer of a bharata natyam (Indian classical) version of “The Nutcracker”

I think the first “Nutcracker” I saw was in the 1980s at the Dorothy Chandler, and I didn’t have any clue about how important this was in the lives of Americans. It was just another theatrical experience. Then, when my daughter went to school, every winter “Nutcracker” was a big thing with all her friends who went to ballet class. I thought, wow, it would be nice if we could do this in bharata natyam. Because I live here, and it could be relevant to children from the Indian community here who study Indian dance. I wanted them to see that bharata natyam is not just for stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but that there is a universality of the idiom, and we could share that with audiences.

When I started doing it, I was so excited, I think I just went nuts trying so many different things. I tried to catch a flavor of everything, as I understood it, so for the dances around the world, I had an Indian dance and a belly dance and the hula. One year I had Power Rangers, because that was the in thing. But my dilemma is that I didn’t want to do a cute Indian production. I had originally read the E.T.A. Hoffmann story--it’s intense and even gruesome-- and I wanted to do something more like that, but I thought it would rob the happy-family, Christmas-spirit feeling of the ballet. So I haven’t done it for a few years, even though I love the story. I see it as the spirit of the universal child--Clara as a young adolescent who’s coming into her womanhood. I think it [can be] deeper than the way we portray it, and I need some time to explore the possibilities of doing it again.

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MISTY COPELAND, former San Pedro ballet prodigy and current member of American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company

Well, I started dancing [five years ago] when I was 13, and I did my first “Nutcracker” [with the San Pedro City Ballet] when I was 13 1/2, so I was Clara when I’d only been dancing for a little while. It was really hard for me, because I’d only been on pointe for a few months, but it was really fun. Probably my favorite part was a pas de deux they choreographed just for me, with the Nutcracker Prince. I’d never been partnered before and my partner wasn’t very experienced either, but he didn’t drop me. The next year I did Sugar Plum. Before that, I’d never seen anything about ballet, growing up in San Pedro. It was a teacher there who told me I had a ballet body, so I started taking.

I haven’t gotten tired of “Nutcracker,” like other dancers who get sick of the music. They’ve done it their whole lives, and I haven’t had a chance to get tired of it yet. This year, I’ll be off a few weeks at Christmas, so I’ll be performing the Sugar Plum for a few companies, one in Rochester, N.Y. and the other in Indiana. Here [dancing with the ABT Studio Company], it’s different doing corps work, but it’s good for me to experience.

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OKSANA BAIUL, Olympic figure-skating gold medalist

When I was about 7 years old, my mother took me to see the ballet when we lived in Dneprodzerzhinsk, in the Ukraine. The first time I saw it, I remember that they were killing the Nutcracker and the Nutcracker was transforming from the doll into the human being. I remember that right now talking to you, like a flashback. I was so excited, I was sitting on the edge of my chair. I always wanted to be a ballet dancer, so a few years ago, when I got the chance to do my own “Nutcracker” on ice, it was great, because it’s the most famous kids’ show to do here at Christmas time. I played Clara and it was pretty much the real story. We toured a lot of cities, with Viktor Petrenko and a lot of other good skaters. Our production was incredible because it was Disney paying for it, and I remember how the tree grew as Drosselmeyer was telling the story to the kids. It was kind of mesmerizing. I enjoyed it, because usually when I perform on the ice, I do my own routines, and that time I liked being an actress on the ice, and being Clara, not Oksana. I was walking a lot on my toes, on top of the blade, as a ballet dancer would walk on the floor. Already I was known as a ballerina on the ice--I don’t know where it comes from, probably taking so many ballet classes during my training for the Olympic Games. It’s just in me, in my soul.

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LYNN GARAFOLA, dance historian and author of “Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes”

I grew up in Manhattan, but I didn’t see “The Nutcracker” until I was 23 or so, because we always went to Radio City for the Christmas show. That used to be a huge thing to do at Christmas. Balanchine’s “Nutcracker” didn’t start until 1954, and it took a while for it to become a Christmas thing. Because his was the first I saw, I was genuinely excited about it. The moments when the hall darkened and the tree began to grow and the music swelled were thrilling. I still have this great sense of excitement when the music builds at the start and everyone lines up and starts dancing. I always want to start dancing too. You don’t have to do double pirouettes to imagine yourself in that scene--it’s social dancing.

I took my daughter to see a production by a small company when she was about 2, and she wanted to get up onstage--my daughter is not shy. She eventually became a connoisseur of “Nutcrackers” on video, and one of the hardest things to explain to her was that this wasn’t a single ballet--it was a ballet with many versions. I didn’t want her to go to the New York City Ballet and say, “That’s not ‘Nutcracker,’ ” because something was different. Now she has played Marie in a small company that does the Balanchine production but has the feeling of a participatory, amateur production, which is great.

I never get tired of the ballet as a dance writer, but I do as a mother. There are three months of rehearsal, so every time you pick up your child, you hear this same taped music playing interminably. Sometimes, I wish someone would decide, “Let’s do ‘Petrouchka’ for the next five Christmases,” so I’d get to hear some other music and hear about other plots.

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DONALD BYRD, artistic director of Donald Byrd / The Group and choreographer of “The Harlem Nutcracker”

I first saw it in Florida, growing up. I must have been about 8 or 9, and there was a lot of hype about it coming on television. The story sounded so great, and they’d show little excerpts and stuff. And then when I saw it, I was a little bit disappointed. I wanted it to be a little darker--I liked scary things and it wasn’t scary enough. I enjoyed it, but it seemed fluffy to me.

But I liked the dancing. It was the first time I ever saw people on pointe--what I remember was people jumping and people dancing on pointe, and I thought that was really great. But I got those two things confused. Right after it was over, I jumped up in the air and tried to land on my toes, and I broke both my toes. I figured out later that you didn’t do both at the same time. I refused to tell anyone what happened to me or why I was limping. It was my very first ballet experience.

I think that first time affected my version of “The Nutcracker.” The thing I’m interested in about 19th century ballets is the undercurrent of darkness that’s there but usually is played down in traditional interpretations. “The Harlem Nutcracker” is about the balance between the dark and the fun. People really want to be moved by all the “Nutcrackers.” They find joy in them and affirmation of certain kinds of values about family and about love. As a child, I absolutely got a lot of those things, and the experience stays with you your entire life.

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A “Nutcracker” Sampler:

Southland Sugar Plums for 2000

Ballet Pacifica: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. Dec. 14-24. $17 (children)-$21. (949) 854-4646.

City Ballet: Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, San Diego. Dec. 15-17. $19-$32. (858) 272-8663.

Festival Ballet Theatre: Carpenter Center, Cal State Long Beach, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach. Today. $18-$22. (562) 985-7000. Also Friday-next Sunday at the Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. $16 (children)-$19. (714) 432-5880.

Inland Pacific Ballet: Bridges Auditorium, Claremont Colleges, 450 N. College Way, Claremont. Dec. 16-24. $16-$30. (909) 607-1139.

Moscow Classical Ballet: Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Dec. 19-24. $10 (children)-$55. (626) 449-7360.

Pasadena Dance Theatre: Civic Auditorium, 320 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel. Dec. 9-17. $12-$35. (626) 578-1940.

San Pedro City Ballet: Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College, 1607 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance. Dec. 16-18. $10 (children)-$26. (310) 329-5345.

Santa Barbara Festival Ballet and Santa Barbara Ballet Center: Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. Dec. 9-10. $8-$32. (805) 963-4408.

Westside Ballet: Wadsworth Theater, Veterans Administration grounds, Brentwood. Dec. 16-17. $10 (children)-$25. (800) 233-3123.