International ballet dancers and local artists come together in the Toronto International Dance Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker. The holiday classic takes the stage at Bluma Appel Theatre on December 21 and 22.
Toronto International Ballet Theatre was founded by Ukrainian dancer/choreographer Tatiana Stepanova, and she still serves as the company’s artistic director. After years of teaching ballet classes in Canada, Tatiana became frustrated with the lack of opportunity for her students and other aspiring dancers.
That’s what led her to create the company, which held its first performance in 2008. She created a unique niche in Toronto’s dance landscape by using a combination of international professional talent and local artists by audition, blending in students for some performances, including The Nutcracker, their first production and company signature piece.
Tatiana Stepanova: The Nutcracker
While of course it shares characters and more with other versions of the Nutcracker story, TIBT’s version focuses on the feelings. Klara loves her Nutcracker, a gift from her uncle, but one that carries a special holiday spell. As she falls asleep with the Nutcracker in her arms, she grows into a young woman, and the doll becomes her brave prince. They journey through magical worlds, including the Land of Sweets, where the treats represent different parts of the world,. The two fall in love, and Klara wakes up to a romantic dream, the kind of pure and innocent love only children can feel.
“This is a story for everybody.” Tatiana says that she’s witnessed children as young as four or five years of age, rapt in attention at what unfolds on stage. “Everybody can come, and everyone can enjoy.”
The effects, the stage magic, and the whole production is designed to be family-friendly in scope. During a season where there are many choices when it comes to holiday concerts and performance, TIBT offers a classic that stretches across generations. It’s part of her goal and mandate for the company.
“For us, for our generation, we have to somehow teach people the beauty of classical ballet,” she says. She points out that conceptual modern dance is not really family-friendly, or accessible for younger audiences, in contrast with the generally lucid storytelling of classical ballet. “Kids enjoy ballet.”
She recalls her own sense of wonder going to ballet when she was a child. “It’s magic,” she says. It’s a feeling she wanted to inspire in other young audience members. “Right now, I can’t see that many productions you can bring a child to. This is what I wanted to bring.”
There are also young dancers in the production as the nutcracker dolls. “Everybody loves it. Everybody wants to buy the nutcracker.”
The production aims for a sumptuous, opulent look. The costumes, in part, come from an Elton John production. As Stepanova tells the story, the costumes were originally ordered for a Louis XIV themed pageant. It’s part of the wow factor she’s going for.
The Dancers
Kids from all over Ontario audition for those children’s parts as the nutcracker dolls. The principal dancers are also chosen from auditions.
“I choose professional dancers who come to an audition.” She reports getting audition tapes from as far away as Japan.
The sheer number of applicants every year underscores the fact that the issues that drove her to create the company persist: lack of opportunity.
“Who will teach them to dance in the corps de ballet?” she wonders of the many young ballet students attempting to launch professional careers each season. “Principal dancers, you can invite from wherever,” she says, “but the corps de ballet, that’s the show quality of the company.”
Bringing in professional dancers from other regions is also part of her strategy. It exposes the young and local dancers in the production to different styles of ballet. “It’s very important.”
She remembers her own years in the Bolshoi Ballet School. “I was dancing in the Bolshoi Ballet in the theatre company as a child, and saw, from the stage, how the principal dancers dance. They have to see.”
She’s worked with the Bolshoi before when it comes to connecting with dancers abroad, something that’s now been made impossible by the war unfolding on the other side of the globe.
“It’s not easy to combine everybody, but I try my best,” she says.
Guest Dancers
Two special guest dancers will perform the principal roles.
American ballerina Joy Womack was the first woman from the US to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet’s prestigious school with its highest designation, a red diploma, and became the second American woman to sign a contract as a soloist with the company. She’s also danced principal roles at the Kremlin Ballet and Boston Ballet. She has also worked in film, including the bio documentary Joy Womack: The White Swan, and as a consultant and dance double in Joika in 2023.
Principal dancer Alexis Tiutiunnyk is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts of Ukraine. He graduated from the National Ballet School in his native Kyiv. There, he became a first soloist with the Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine, followed by four years at the renowned Mariinsky Ballet. He’s been a principal dancer with the National Opera of Ukraine since 2019, and occasionally works as a model.
- Find more details and tickets to the three performances on December 21 and 22 [HERE].
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