TEACHABLE MOMENTS

A Study Guide for

Friday, November 17, 2017 10:00 a.m.

Adagio—Adagio is a series of fluid and focused exercises that are performed slowly in order to improve dancers’ balance, strength and lines. It also refers to the opening sequence of a two-person dance that includes one partner lifting the other. Allégro—Allégro means fast, brisk and energetic movements and is associated with jumps. Arabesque—An arabesque is when the dancer stands on one leg with the other leg extended behind the body. The arms can be held in a variety of positions. Regardless, the goal of the arabesque is to create as smooth seamless a line as possible with the body, from the shoulders through the arms and down to the toes of the extended leg. Barre—This is the wooden bar attached to the walls of the classroom, though some barres stand on their own. The dancer holds onto the barre for support, and a sequence of barre exercises is part of every ballet class. Battement Tendu—This when the leg and foot are fluidly swept across the floor from one position to another. Typically, a “battement tendu” starts from first or fifth position, the leg is extended in the motion, and then it returns to the starting position. The leg should be straight and fully extended so that the foot only brushes the ground during the movement. BalletHub noted that many teachers refer to the move as just “tendu.” Changements—When a dancer begins in fifth position, jumps up in place and then switches the position of their feet while in the air so that they land in fifth position with the opposite foot now in front. En Pointe—“En pointe” is when you dance on the very tips of your toes. Pointe shoes, typically made of satin, are used to achieve this. Students begin dancing en pointe only after they have advanced to a higher skill level, Learntodance.com noted. However, on their way to dancing en pointe, students will practice moves and positions in demi-pointe, which is when a dancer stands on the balls of their feet. Pas de Deux—Pas de deux means “a dance for two people,” and is sometimes shortened to “pas.” Pirouette—A pirouette is a 360 degree spin made on one foot that is en pointe or demi-pointe, and is frequently begun from fourth position. The move requires strong core alignment and balance, and, as Balletdancersguide.com stated, “are the mastering ballet move which every dancer is undoubtedly always trying to figure out how to improve.” Plié—Plié means “bent” or “bending,” and is when one or both knees are bent while legs and feet remain turned out, and are done in first, second, fourth and fifth positions. There are two main types of pliés, demi and grand, which George Mason University’s dance department defined as follows: Demi: This is a small bend of the knees while heels are on the floor which creates a diamond shape. Grand: A large bend of the knees during which heels are raised off the ground in a motion that mimics a “frog stretch.” Ronde de Jambe—Ronde de jambe means “round of the leg.” It is when the dancer rests on one leg and makes a circular movement with the other leg. It may be done “à terre,” which means the circle is made while the foot is touching the ground, or “en l’air,” which means the circle is made in the air. Sauté—Sauté means “jump,” and is frequently used in combination with other moves to signify that they should be done with a jump, Learntodance.com explained. The source gave the example of sauté arabesque, which would mean to jump in the arabesque position.

Vocabulary

The Author Ernest Theodor (Wilhelm) Amadeus Hoffmann was born in 1776 in Köningsberg, Germany. He changed his third name, Wilhelm, to Amadeus in 1813 in homage to the great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Originally educated as a jurist, he is one of the main figures of German Romanticism as a writer, composer and artist. His works are eclectic and his characters show an amazing world of fantasy which interacts with everyday life. His literary work, which influenced Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, features supernatural characters that reveal people's hidden secrets. The father of the fantasy/horror story or novella, he was the forerunner of American authors Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allen Poe. His literary stories inspired many musicians: The Tales of Hoffman, by Offenbach or The Nutcracker, by Tchaïkovsky. Hoffman died in Berlin in 1822.

Historical Relevance The 18th century was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. In both The Nutcracker and Coppélia, E. T. A. Hoffman presents mechanical dolls that are almost human. The doll makers in both stories are regarded as magicians by the other characters, and have supernatural powers. What does this tell us about the attitudes towards machines and their designers at this time?

The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the story "The Nutcracker and the King of Mice" written by E.T.A. Hoffman. Although what is seen on the stage today is different in detail from the original story, the basic plot remains the same; The story of a young German girl who dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads. When Marius Petipa had the idea to choreograph the story into a ballet, it was actually based on a revision by Alexander Dumas, a well-known French author. His version reflects more of what we have come to love as the Nutcracker Ballet. The Party Scene It is Christmas Eve at the Stahlbaum house -- A large and grand house with the most beautiful tree imaginable. The Stahlbaums are hosting their annual Christmas party, welcoming the arrival of their family and friends. The children, Clara and Fritz, are dancing and playing as they welcome their friends too. The party grows festive with music and dance as godfather Drosselmeyer arrives. He is a skilled clock and toy maker and always full of surprises. Drosselmeyer draws everyone's attention as he presents two life-size dolls. They are the delight of the party, each taking a turn to dance. The children begin to open gifts when Drosselmeyer presents his to Clara and Fritz. Although his gift to Fritz is quite nice, he gives Clara a beautiful Nutcracker that becomes the hit of the party. Fritz becomes jealous and, having a bit more spunk than a boy should have, grabs the nutcracker from Clara and promptly breaks it. Clara is heartbroken looking on as Drosselmeyer quickly repairs the Nutcracker with a handkerchief he magically draws from the air. As the evening grows late, the guests depart and the Stahlbaum family retires for the evening. Clara, worried about her beloved Nutcracker, sneaks back to the tree to check on him, falling asleep with him in her arms. The Fight Scene As the clock strikes midnight strange things begin to happen. Clara begins shrinking as her beautiful Christmas tree grows high above her. The toys around the tree come to life while the room fills with an army of mice, led by the fierce Mouse King. As the Nutcracker awakens, he leads his army of toy soldiers into battle with the mice. The Mouse King corners the Nutcracker and battles him one-on-one. The Nutcracker seems to be no match for the Mouse King. The Nutcracker and his army can go on no longer and are captured by the mice and their King. Clara makes a final daring charge throwing her slipper at the Mouse King, hitting him square on the head. The Mouse King drops to the floor and the mice run away, carrying off their leader's lifeless body.

The Nutcracker Ballet Story The Most Common of Many Variations

Below are different interpretations of the same scene in the story. What other choices could you make if you were going to reenact this fight scene?

The Land of Snow The Nutcracker turns into a Prince and takes Clara on a journey to the Land of Snow, an enchanted forest wonderland where they are welcomed by dancing snowflakes.

The Land of Sweets The Prince escorts Clara to the Land of Sweets where they are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Prince tells her about their daring battle with the army of mice and she rewards them with a celebration of dances. The Spanish Dance The Arabian Dance The Russian Dance The Chinese Dance The Mirliton Dance The Waltz of Flowers

As a finale, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier dance a beautiful Pas De Deux. The Dream Ends Clara awakens from her dream and finds herself by her Christmas tree with her beloved Nutcracker.

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The brief synopsis . . . On Christmas Eve, a little girl named Marie (later changed to Clara for the ballet) falls asleep after a party at her home and dreams herself (or does she?) into a fantastic world where toys become larger than life. Her beloved Nutcracker comes to life and defends her from the Mouse King, then is turned into a Prince after Marie saves his life.

Three different interpretations of the Chinese Dance sequence by three different

dance companies.

The Royal Ballet/©Bob Ross New Ballet Ensemble

Academy of American Ballet

The Nutcracker Ballet Story The Most Common of Many Variations

The Story: Act One A beautiful Memphis dancer, a symbol of light and hope, is our storyteller for this holiday evening on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Clara toils nightly with her father, serving and welcoming visitors to their café. But tonight, as the curtain lifts on our story, they are hosting a party for family and friends from Memphis and around the world. With her graduation only six months away, Clara wants to see her single father in a happy relationship. Still, she can’t resist teasing him over his crush on a local baker, the “Pie Lady”. Clara herself is sweet on the hero, a longtime friend and mentor who is leaving for the military. As the “Rat Queen and King” enter the scene, pulling pranks with the help of a toy rodent from A. Schwab, a wistful Clara and her father receive news of the hero’s impending deployment. The hero gives Clara a flower as a promise that he will return. Once the party is underway, Aunt and Uncle Drosselmeyer arrive bearing gifts from around the world. Street performers pose as mechanical dolls (like the characters from her favorite ballet, The Nutcracker). After a rousing dance battle between the hero and the Rat King, Drosselmeyer calls up old school Memphis Music to begin a jam to Booker T & The MG’s “Green Onions.” At the close of the party, Clara sneaks out to a transformed Beale Street where she happens upon her friends. There is an element of danger as they dance through the night . . . and where did those tiny mice and soldiers come from? As she faints in the arms of Drosselmeyer, the dance battle that began in the café resumes. Clara’s dancing spirit arrives to resolve any conflict as they summon a lovely snowfall, leading Clara to her dream of seeing the world and dance in all of its forms. Act Two In this fairytale version of Beale Street, Clara finds dancers from all over the world who perform the authentic dances of their cultures, inviting her to join in. She visits a Spanish café where her friends dance to Flamenco guitar and delight in American jazz (The Nutcracker à la Duke Ellington), engages a giant Chinese lion, greets Russian flippers and visits an African village. The rose given to her by her hero earlier that evening comes to life in Waltz of the Flowers and finally, the great music of the Grand Pas de Deux plays Clara home and to her father’s arms. In the café once again, Clara faces the hero’s departure. The curtain closes on a bittersweet note as she comes to terms with change and her transformation to adulthood. Was she dreaming?

There are many ways to compare and contrast Nut ReMix and the classic Nutcracker ballet. 1) Why do you think The Nutcracker ballet has become a holiday tradition that families return to each year?

What are some other traditions that families honor year after year? Why? How? Where? (Sports, church, charity events? Birthdays, the circus, or trip to lake?)

2) How did New Ballet Ensemble remix a classic story/ballet, make it inviting to new audiences, and keep it true to the original story?

3) What choices did New Ballet Ensemble make in the time and setting of their story? Why? 4) Are there other places the story could take place while sticking to the original plot line? Where? How? 5) Could the characters have different “background stories” while remaining credible to the original plot?

What could they be? 6) Can you think of a club, church, or community organization that puts on the same event each year? How

do you think they go about keeping it new and exciting while giving their audience what is expected? How could they change it?

7) New Ballet Ensemble updated the Nutcracker ballet story to the present day. Ask your students to name other stories that have been changed?

8) What are other things that get “updated” over time? (i.e. clothing, songs, movies, phones, automobiles, uniforms, appliances, school books, etc.) Why? Does it change how we use or feel about them?

Nut ReMix Synopsis

COMPARE and CONTRAST

There are numerous books of the story of The Nutcracker. Just as each dance company that produces the story each year makes different choices about the telling of this story, authors and illustrators have made many different choices in their retelling the tale by the pictures and the prose. The following is a list of books that you might like to share with your students to let them see how many different ways a story might be told: The Nutcracker illustrated by Mary Engelbreit The Nutcracker illustrated by Maurice Sendak The Nutcracker illustrated by Valeria Docampo The Nutcracker based on the NYC Ballet illustrated by Valeria Docampo The Nutcracker illustrated by Sheilah Beckett (a Little Golden Book) The Nutcracker retold by Stephanie Spinner/illustrated by Peter Malone The Nutcracker in Harlem written by T. E. McMorrow/illustrated by James Ransome

Compare and Contrast

There are many other choices as well.

Allow your students to look through and read different versions of the story and ask each of them to choose two books to compare.

Ask the students to list four or five similarities between the two books.

Ask them to also list four or five differences.

Lead a discussion where the students may share what they discovered.

Leading questions could include the following:

1. What choices did the authors make that may have told the story in a slightly different manner from one another?

2. What choices did the illustrators make when they drew how they perceived the party scene or the house where Clara lived might look?

3. Choose a scene from the story and draw it the way you think it might look. (Have a viewing of the students’ artwork and let them discuss the different choices that were made.

Using the Capacities for Imaginative Learning (listed on the back of this guide) there are so many ways to view the same story and question the choices that the original author made along with choices made by each person who has come in contact with the story since. You and your students have so many opportunities to compare and contrast.

Prefixes Ask your students to list five words that begin with the prefix “re.” Select several students who would like to share their words. (The teacher or a student may

write the “re” words on your Smart Board and list them for the class to see). Here are some examples: Remix Rethink Redo Reinterpret Remodel Reimagine Reinvent Remake Rework

Visit one of these two websites where you will find more “re” words than you ever imagined. https://www.morewords.com/starts-with/re/ This site actually breaks them into four, five, six, seven letter words and is helpful for different grade levels. http://words-that-start-with-re.worddetector.com/p/re%2A/

Depending on the grade level that you teach, you may adapt this lesson on prefixes and then relate it to New Ballet Ensemble’s Nut ReMix, once again establishing taking something already intact and re-creating it.

What is a Nutcracker?

Re — what?

According to German folklore, nutcrackers were given as keepsakes to bring good luck to your family and protect your home. The legend says that a nutcracker represents power and strength and serves like a trusty watch dog guarding your family from evil spirits and danger. A fierce protector, the nutcracker bares its teeth to the evil spirits and serves as the traditional messenger of good luck and goodwill.

“Don’t be afraid, my beard is long, my head is large, my look is grim but that matters not. I won’t bite you. In spite of my big mouth and grim appearance, I look with my heart for your happiness.”

•Nutcrackers embody the ‘Cycle of Life', As the seed of a nut falls to the ground, it grows into a strong tree, living over hundreds of years nourishing the woodcutters and woodcrafters. The legends tell of a feast celebrated just before harvesting the logs of the Elder trees, where nuts and fruits were eaten as if to pass on the magic and mystery of this eternal cycle . . . and so on to the collectors of these exquisite wooden nutcrackers.

•Nutcrackers reflect ancestral dining customs where amusing or unusual nutcrackers were part of the social setting adding a whimsical conversation piece as guests lingered over the desert course which included sweetmeats such as pecans and hazelnuts.

•Writers, composers and artists sang and danced the praises of the legend of the Nutcracker beginning with the novel “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” written sometime between 1776 and 1822, by E.T. Amadeus Hoffman. This novel became the basis for Tchaikovsky’s magnificent “Nutcracker Suite”, which debuted as a ballet in St. Petersburg in 1892 and lives on as a holiday tradition throughout the world.

Living with Ambiguity—to understand that issues have more than one interpretation, that not all problems have immediate or clear cut solutions, and to be patient while a resolution becomes clear How many of your classmates voiced

different views from yours about the performance? How many had similar reactions to yours about the performance? Was there a right or wrong way to experience this or any other performance?

Creating Meaning—to create your own interpretations based on the previous capacities, see these in the light of others in the community, create a synthesis, and express it in your own voice How did the dancers in New Ballet

Ensemble’s Nut ReMix make the characters of the story come to life through dance for you? Why?

Taking Action—to act on the synthesis of what you have learned in your explorations through a specific project. These include projects in the arts, as well as in other realms. For example: you might write and produce your own play; you might create a dance; you might plant a community garden as a combined service-learning/science project; you might organize a clothing drive for homeless neighbors as a combined service-learning/humanities project What is another story that you and your

friends already know? How could you tell the story by using your bodies without speaking? Could you tell a story using different kinds of dance? How could you change the time and place of a story you know to make it local and present day?

Reflecting/Assessing—to look back on your learning, continually assess what you have learned, assess/identify what challenges remain, and assess/identify what further learning needs to happen. This occurs not only at the end of a learning experience, but is part of what happens throughout that experience. It is also not the end of your learning; it is part of beginning to learn something else. If dancers can tell a story using their

bodies, do you think your body ever expresses your thoughts or feelings to your teacher? Your family members? Your friends? Can you tell a story without speaking?

*“Capacities for Imaginative Learning” pages 46, 47, Imagination First—unlocking the power of possibility by Scott Noppe-Brandon & Eric Liul

Using the Capacities for Imaginative Learning* with New Ballet Ensemble’s Nut ReMix

Noticing Deeply—to identify and articulate layers of detail in a work of art through continuous interaction with it over time

How many different types of dance were used? What did the performance remind you of or make you think about?

Embodying—to experience a work of art through your senses, as well as emotionally, and also to physically represent that experience How did you feel during the ballet

performance? Did your body react to certain rhythms or characters? If so, how?

Questioning—to ask questions throughout your explorations that further your own learning; to ask the question, “What if?” What if you were to choose a character to

play in the story? What would it be? How did the dancers learn how to make us believe they were the different characters from the story?

Identifying Patterns—to find relationships among the details you notice, group them, and recognize patterns During Clara’s dream she visits other

lands. Each land is represented by dance and costumes. What was similar in these sequences?

Making Connections—to connect what you notice and the patterns you see to your prior knowledge and experiences, as well as to others’ knowledge and experiences including text and multimedia resources What feelings did you initially have about

ballet? Are they different after seeing the New Ballet Ensemble performance? Are there other aspects of life around you that you may or may not have feelings about that could change once you are exposed to new experiences? New foods? New music styles? New books?

Exhibiting Empathy—to respect the diverse perspectives of others in our community; to understand the experiences of others emotionally, as well as in thought How did Clara feel when her friend tells

her he is leaving town to become a soldier? Has someone you know ever moved away?

This Study Guide was compiled by DeltaARTS from the following sources: New Ballet Ensemble —Education & Outreach www.newballet.org https://www.tututix.com/ballet-terms-beginners/ Magicofnutcrackers.com DeltaARTS/Glenn P. Schoettle Arts Education Center

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