Christmas Memories, Parte the Firste
There are and very likely will always be so many good memories surrounding this time of year, and I hope that is true for everyone who reads these words. A fair few of them are always brought to me by the music of the holiday. The first Christmases I remember in the house on Park Plaza in Glen Ellyn are brought into clarity with songs by Nat King Cole, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormè, Ferrante and Teicher and so on. For many years while living in Alaska I would trade off years in catching either live stage performances of ‘A Christmas Carol’ or ‘The Nutcracker Ballet’.
I read or listen to ‘A Christmas Carol’ every year, and sometimes get to head a little further up North from North Carolina these days to catch ‘A Christmas Carol’ in Cleveland, Ohio, where some family members are part of that show. That surely keeps the magic of that show ‘green’. To catch either that or ‘The Nutcracker Ballet’ close by me now means an overnight stay in Charlotte, which is not always affordable, but will happen again. Maybe next year…
However, of the two shows, it has always been ‘The Nutcracker’ that really remains the most most magical. The two shows share a common thread, if you will, of an almost dreamlike quality, in that we are left at the end to wonder did the story really happen or was it a dream? Of course, at least to my mind, that is the magic of the stories, and they both leave one ready for more Christmas, or at least do so with me.
The Romance of ‘The Nutcracker’ is in the ballet and how simply through dance (though I suppose referring to ballet as ‘simply’ is somewhat disingenuous!) so much is expressed, though certainly the music is as great a part of the expression. More on both of these as you continue to read! First, however, is that first slow ‘explosion’ of magic, when Clara enters the world of the Nutcracker when the Christmas tree grows to immense size right before your eyes…
All the activities that follow are certainly magical, of course, but that the music and stagecraft so wonderfully transport you is part, I think, of the essence of Christmas, and even when I do not have the opportunity to attend a performance, listening to the music, eyes closed, always brings that same feeling, and Christmas truly has begun.
Something I may have realized later in my life is just how much this ballet may have effected me and my personal preferences. I have stated that the music in this ballet is special to the time of year, and that is true in so much of it. The dances can change somewhat from production to production, but the music stays as it always was, and the ability of it to provoke emotion and thought and memory is damn near without compare!
First, one that encompasses the personal preference and emotion is ‘The Arabian Dance’. The music is, I think, a well-known piece, even if people do not know from whence it comes, like so many Classical pieces can be. However, for me it is not only the music but the sensuous dance of it, specifically the female. Understanding that ballerinas have more or less the same body type, it seems to me that my adult lifelong preference for the body type comes from this dance.
Watch a video of this ballet and you will see a sensual Romance. That is what my eyes and brain take from it, anyway. It has not always been the body type of girlfriends, and part of my psyche is happy to note that not one of them of this body type has been untrue or a liar to me, or broken my heart. I am also aware that physical appearance is never a guarantee of what is inside the Soul, but I can only say that almost all of my female friends of this type have been the most supportive and amazing (if human as we all are) people it has been my fortune to know.
‘The Russian Dance’, of course, has always astounded, no matter the production:
Finally, the ‘Pas de deux: Intrada’ music is, simply put, emotion distilled into music. It is just evocative of so much emotion, and that is the only way I know to use words to explain it. It is not sadness, nor hate, nor happiness…it could be Love, I suppose but I find it strangely hard to put into words other than it is Emotion.
Until next week (maybe), I bid you Peace.
