By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted December 6th 2017)
Ballet isn’t
an art form that Kenyans know very well. And if they do, they probably won’t
expect to see the quality of professionalism that they will find if they go see
The Nutcracker this weekend at Kenya National Theatre.
If they have
been to any one of the Dance Centre of Kenya’s previous productions, they won’t
be surprised to find teenagers (and even pre-teens) performing at such a high level
of precision, grace, beauty and elegance that watching them perform will be a joy
and privilege.
It’s true
that the world over, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s enchanting children’s fairy
tale (based on a short story by Alexander Dumas who adapted it from earlier
story by E.T.A. Hoffmann) has in recent years become a Christmas tradition. The
DCK has also followed that tradition, having staged it for a third time at KNT
this year.
One might
imagine the public would tire of this particular ballet, despite DCK having
staged other ballet classics such as Giselle, Les Sylphide and Pas de Quatre.
But for one thing, Tchaikovsky’s music is sublime and it’s well worth going to
The Nutcracker just to listen to his marvelous music.
But what’s
even more relevant is that Cooper Rust, DCK’s artistic director and choreographer
of all three productions, has always revised the dance format slightly but
significantly every year. As such, every performance has been fresh and also
filled with a number of new dances as well as new cast members and dancers as
well.
Cooper stays
true to the basic storyline, of course. It’s essentially about a little girl
named Clara (danced deftly by eleven year old Carolina Fusillo) who has a
marvelous dream. It’s about the Christmas gift she’s received from her god
father (Ian Mbugua and Joseph ‘Babu’ Wairimu alternatively). It’s a nutcracker
formed like a toy soldier (Shamick
Otieno) that comes to life, battles the forces of evil (embodied as rats led by
the sinister Rat King (Silas Ouma), and gets saved by Clara’s quick thinking.
For her bravery,
Clara is crowned a princess of the Royal Court in the Land of Sweets. She’s also
rewarded by the Arch Angel (Kayla Hotz) with a series of exotic dances
delightfully performed by Cooper’s most superlative senior dance students as
well as by child dancers as young as three years old.
The story is
as enchanting as is the music and the dance. One feels the production gets
better every year, although this year there’s one obvious omission. It’s Joel
Kioko, the young dance wonder from Eastlands who’d previously played the
Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Cavalier (played this year by Guest artist Baris Erhan).
Kioko is now studying at the English National Ballet School, having received
intense dance instruction from Cooper who’d seen the young man’s immense
athletic and artistic potential.
Other DCK
graduates who have gone to greener pastures include Annabel Shaw who’s now at
the Northern Ballet School in UK, Lucile Plumbe who’s at the Academie
Internationale and Anjuli Vadera who’s at the Laban Conservatoire of Dance,
also in UK.
One other
enticing addition to this year’s production were the beautiful set designs
painted by student artists from Kenton, Hillcrest Secondary Schools and the
Rudolf Steiner Primary School.
The opening
night’s Silent Auction featuring everything from air plane tickets to adult
bikes was an amazing illustration of how generous the corporate community when
they care to get behind an artistic production like The Nutcracker.
Congratulations to Cooper Rust and her team which clearly elicit unlimited
confidence in not only parents who’ve sent their children to DCK in droves
since the centre opened in early 2015, but also in Corporates who have shown
how supportive they can be of the arts when they want to be.
The
Nutcracker will be performed this weekend both Saturday and Sunday including
matinees at the National Theatre.
Meanwhile,
Heartstrings Entertainment is currently staging their latest rip-roaring
comedy, ‘Nobody is Leaving’ at Alliance Francaise. It runs this weekend and
next. The Friday shows will be staged twice both weekends, at 6:30 and 8:30pm.
Then on both Saturdays there will be three performances, at 3, 6:30 and 8:30.
And finally, on both Sundays, there will only be shows at 3 and 6:30pm.
Last but not
least, Martin Kigondu is bringing back “What Happens in the Night” next
Saturday, December 16 at 5pm at the
Daystar Valley Road Auditorium. The shows starts Nick Ndeda, Chichi Seii, Bilal
Mwaura, Shiviske Shivisi and Salim Gitau.
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