‘Nutcracker’ goes to pieces

Since every traditional “Nutcracker” depicts or evokes the dances of at least seven different nations, the highly nontraditional Spectrum version at the Ivar Theatre on Saturday simply honored the multicultural diversity of this 1892 Christmas classic in a new way.

Like every program in the long-running Spectrum series, this one featured more than a dozen Southland choreographers or companies -- each assigned to re-create a “Nutcracker” scene or divertissement in its own way.

Modern dancer Patrick Damon Rago, for instance, performed a doll dance infused with contemporary robotics, and Nina McNeely’s anarchic “Mother Ginger” also updated “Nutcracker” lore by having five adult vixens emerge from under Trey Knight’s canopied stilts.

However, something got lost when Mexican folklorico, Japanese taiko and all-American hip-hop replaced Tchaikovsky on the soundtrack: the sense of fantasy that every “Nutcracker” should generate, plus all the artful transitions between scenes that became deadly pauses Saturday.

By using the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky, Pat Taylor’s stylish, Fosse-esque “Sugar Rum Cherry” septet suggested how this project might have dramatized our distance from 1892 without losing all sense of connection.

Unfortunately, most of the other choreographers did what they normally do on a Spectrum grab-bag evening, whether or not it fit the premise of the occasion -- and whether or not it could have been done to an adaptation of the original score.

For starters, the belly dance “Waltz of the Snowflakes” and rock ‘n’ roll “Waltz of the Flowers” had no waltz rhythms whatsoever, though Allegra Pena brought genuine magic to the former showpiece through her use of pleated gossamer wings that three dancers swirled with great dexterity.

In the latter, Josie Walsh deftly combined the freedom of pop dancing with the formality of evolving symmetrical groupings: floral bouquets, if you like. And in an inventive duet inexplicably titled “Marzipan,” Laurie Cameron made competitive aggression and emotional bonding seem inseparable components of male behavior.

Among the other highlights, Gustavo Gonzalez’s lilting Mexican American women’s quintet offered some of the evening’s most sensual virtuosity, while Stephanie Stevenson’s salsa prowess made her splashy duet with Edwin Rivera very, very L.A.

Completing the program: solos by Hiroshi Hamanishi and Amanda Navar, along with group pieces by Juliette Arroyo, Brian Frette, Erin Landry, Carin Noland and Hilary Thomas.

Spectrum artistic director Deborah Brockus cast herself as the mother in the Christmas party scene, but the lack of a coherent story line left her, Ruby Karen as Clara and Joe Decker as Drosselmeyer with little to do but gawk at a 15-part spectacle with plenty of entertainment value but no focused purpose or cumulative effect.