The Nutcracker is a ballet of childhood wonder. It is a story of a mysterious godfather who swoops into a holiday gathering to bring remarkable gifts to the children. It is a story of a beloved toy coming to life. It is a story where a terrifying mouse king can be defeated by a child’s thrown slipper. And, like all things childhood, there is a great deal of time dedicated to sweets. “The story and music are so classic. Everyone can relate,” said Annamia Rumley, owner of Tecumseh Dance Workshop. “The Nutcracker is the story of dreaming and of wonder and magic. It draws you in.” Rumley also serves as the creative director of Tecumseh Center for the Arts’ production of the Nutcracker Ballet. Every other year, for nearly 20 years, young dancers …show more content…
That was the first word on the Nutcracker Ballet. However, one of the great lessons of life is to realize that the first word isn't always the last word. One hundred and twenty five years after that dismal opening night, The Nutcracker has grown to become one of the most beloved and well-known ballets in the world. Nutcracker Trivia The original Nutcracker story was written in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was a dark and scary fairy tale, not quite suitable for children. Later, Alexander Dumas (author of the Three Musketeers) altered the story to make it lighter and more child-friendly. Tchaikovsky used Dumas' version to score the ballet. Nutcracker Trivia According to Nutcracker lore, Tchaikovsky wrote The Nutcracker's Grand Pas Duex on a wager. It is told that Tchaikovsky's friend wagered that the famous composer could not write a melody based on the notes of a scale in an octave in sequence. Tchaikovsky accepted the wager and the result was the famous music written for the Sugar Plum Fairy as she dances with her
At the age of two I put ballet shoes on for the first time. At eleven I began touring with performance groups. By age twelve, I knew how to dance through broken toes and fractures.
The Glass Castle is a book about the childhood and adolescence of Jeannette Wells, the daughter of Rex and Rose Mary Walls. Throughout her childhood, she moved all over the country with her family, moving from one town to the next, often lacking food and good clothes, and living in a state of perpetual poverty. Once the children have grown up, they go to New York, where they live out their dreams while their parents live on the streets. There has been much debate whether Mary and Rex are bad parents are not. Even though their childhood was less than ideal, the fact that they survived and are now productive citizens means that they were better off living with their parents than in a foster home.
It all begins with “Once upon a time” and ends with “and they lived happily ever after”. “Cinderella” is a very widely known story that many children around the world look up to and admire through their entire life. The history of this story, how scholars interpret this tale, and how the authors have retold the story are all key points to keeping this story fresh and popular. Most of the time when people hear the story of “Cinderella”, they think about the Disney version and maybe it is time that changes. All in all, the story brings light to everyone’s life even if they only know the original “Cinderella”.
Some of Mozart’s famous pieces were A Little Night Music (Eine kleine Nachtmusik), 1787, Don Juan (Don Giovanni), 1787, The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), 1786, and The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), 1791. A Little Night Music or Eine kleine Nachtmusik was admired for its lively, joyful quality, and its memorable melodies. In the 21st century, A Little Night Music remains the most frequently performed and iconic of all classical compositions. The second I heard this piece I knew exactly what it was, and loved the sound of the string instruments. Don Giovanni was one of the greatest operas of all that capture enormous power. It also portrayed the feat of the
Fantasia sees the world as very colorful place where everything has a purpose. The evidence for this is in their interpretive animations in the series of music pieced together to create the nutcracker suite. All the animations in the song are utilized to their max potential. For example, the seaweed in the Arabian dance is used as a curtain of sorts to the fishes cave.
“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both” (Roosevelt). The goal of America’s legal system as we know it is that everyone is given an equal opportunity to stick up for what they may or may not have done, as described by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Also this is what officials strive for, it is not always the case. Facts can be skewed, distorted, or misrepresented to make one side seem to be guilty without a doubt and to make the other side seem as if they have done nothing wrong. The Crucible by Arthur Miller begins and ends with one-sided accusations of witchcraft. It all results from a group of girls who had been dancing in the woods. After two fall sick, the accusations begin. The girls who were dancing, especially Abigail Williams begin blaming others to look less guilty themselves. Accusations are flying left and right so that soon, hundreds are in jail and over a dozen are executed. Abby’s main goal is to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, so she can be with John Proctor, a man she previously had an affair with. However, John is not interested in Abby and his
Both Petipa and Tchaikovsky still did not like the story and refused to work on the project. Petipa did not think the story was right for ballet dancing. He did not feel that Marie, the main character, was a strong enough character to dance. He did try to write a scenario for the ballet, but he could not think of anything past the scene of what we know of as the kingdom of snow. After Petipa gave up, Vsevolojsky begged and persisted with Petipa to try again. He convinced Petipa and this time he created a new character called the Sugarplum fairy. This character was not in either of the original stories. She was to be the main character, rather than Marie, and she would be the ruler of the Kingdom of Sweets. Petipa felt that this character could dance the big scenes better than the character Marie.
Walt Disney needed to change his version and many of his other fairy tales and in doing so started a change in the way we see fairy tales. Ask someone today to define a fairy tale and they will tell you along the lines of a beautiful woman put threw hardships that in the end of the story gets the man and becomes a queen of her own castle.
The Grimm brothers were motivated to change the stories up a bit as their tales captivated more people. They incorporated a softer side with a primary moral of the story for the readers (GrimmFairytales.com). It is from these original Grimm versions that modern fairytales, such as Cinderella, originated from. The original version, published in 1812 portrays Cinderella as a poor child who lost her beloved mother; she lived a life of misery as a result of this death. Her father remarried and took on a new life, letting the evil stepsister torment Cinderella.
Mozart wrote The Magic Flute in 1791, just after the French Revolution and just before he died. Haydn had introduced Mozart to Freemasonry, and the opera is full of the ideas (the autonomy of the individual, self-determination, appalling sexism), the ideals (power, wisdom, beauty), and the symbols (aprons, hammers, compasses, a pyramid with an ...
The Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky is another ballet that is based on a fairy tale, and was first presented to the Tsar of Russia.
What do you want to be when you grow up? When I was five years old my dream was to grow up and become one of the Disney princesses. As Princess Aurora said, “They say if you dream a thing more than once, it is sure to come true”. Unfortunately, I grew up and did not become a Disney princess, however, they still played a big role in my childhood as they do with most young girls. There are many controversies about the effects Disney princesses have on young girls, so should they be exposed to one of Disney’s most iconic images when they are so vulnerable?
The history of Carol of the Bells is interesting and cool. The composer of Carol of the Bells was Mykola Leontovych. He was born December 13, 1877 and died January 22-23, 1921. Mykola mastered singing when he was only 10 years old, and taught music and voice after
In "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a transformation as a result of his encounters with three ghosts and becomes a kind, happy, and generous man. His greedy, cruel, and grumpy demeanor is replaced seemingly overnight, but he doesn’t just wake up and decide to be nice. It takes three Spirits to change his outlook on life - The Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. The Ghost of Christmas Past makes Scrooge begin to regret his selfishness, and the Ghost of Christmas Present begins to teach him about others. This second Ghost helps to make him realize that money doesn't buy happiness. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, however, teaches the most profound lesson of all: unless he changes, no one will care if Scrooge dies. Because of the Ghosts, by Christmas morning Ebenezer Scrooge is a completely different person from the man who went to bed on Christmas Eve.
The origins of the Cinderella story date back around the beginning of the first century, or as far back as oral stories have been told. Many variations