The music for the Nutcracker was ordered up like a custom-made suit by the legendary 19th-century ballet master Petipa, says Sergey Kozadayev of Westmont’s Salt Creek Ballet. The order was taken by the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky, and it was very precise. Not only “a Spanish dance, a Chinese dance,” but something like “two bars for trumpet calls, two bars for cannon shooting, and then wounded mice start to scream, then they are going to attack–sixteen bars!” Tchaikovsky, who considered himself a craftsman, more than met the challenge: we’re still humming his magical score. But the dance that dictated it–the choreography of Petipa and his assistant, Lev Ivanov–has been lost. The Nutcracker we’ve seen a lot of in the United States? “Balanchine’s,” Kozadayev says. “Mr. B. made the version after Petipa, but I am sure he changed a lot.” Kozadayev spent part of last summer looking for clues to the original choreography in Petipa’s journal. This weekend Salt Creek Ballet will present Kozadayev’s own version of Nutcracker, with choreography in the first act based on Petipa’s notes.
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Salt Creek Ballet’s 15th annual Nutcracker can be seen Saturday, November 25, at 1 and 5 and Sunday, November 26, at 1 in the Hinsdale Central Auditorium, 55th and Grant in Hinsdale (tickets are $18 to $28; call 630-769-1199). It will also be performed Saturday, December 2, at 1 and 5 at the Paramount Arts Centre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in Aurora (tickets are $16 to $20; call 630-896-6666), and Saturday, December 9, at 1 and 5 at the Center for the Performing Arts, Governors State University in University Park (tickets are $17 to $22; call 708-235-2222).
