THE NUTCRACKER 2023 WILL BE MORE MAGICAL THAN EVER

By Margaretta wa Gacheru... The Nutcracker opened this past weekend, but the Gala is this coming weekend at Kenya National Theatre. But my preview story can work for anyone keen to know the backstory of the Christmas musical and the show's artistic director. So here you are: The beauty of attending a dress rehearsal for Dance Centre Kenya’s annual holiday musical, The Nutcracker is in meeting the show’s artistic director, Cooper Rust. What’s marvelous to see is the passion she puts into her pedagogy, which is not only about dancing with perfect precision, balance, and grace. It’s also about literally keeping her students on their toes, to stay alert and follow all the corrections, critiques, and clear directions that she commands to be followed to the ‘t’, precisely. If she can be characterized by a single word, it would be perfectionist. Yet however much she speaks at a decibel loud enough to fill every inch of space in any one of the three Dance Centre’s studios all around Nairobi, her students listen intently and immediately try to respond accordingly. She has the aura of charisma and control that makes young dancers delight in pleasing her if they possibly can. She trains them to do that, and she does it by actually dancing every part that needs special attention herself. She can demonstrate exactly what she wants for any particular part because of her history with the ballet. “I think I was three when I performed as a mouse in my first Nutcracker,” Cooper told BDLife as she reminisced on how she had performed in this Christmas classic practically every year since then. The other reason she can demonstrate what she wants from her students by doing it herself is because she has been a professional ballerina who danced with several professional ballet companies in the States before deciding to work with underprivileged youth in Kenya. It was that surprising shift of life priorities that led her to meet and teach young people from Kibera. Among them were Joel Kioko and Lavinder Orisa, both of whom (among many others) she mentored, not just in the dance studio, but also in her home where she’s brought a number of Kibera kids who she saw had immense potential but still required special tuition to prepare them to go places she envisioned for them, both socially and professionally. That multi-disciplinary training is what enabled both Joel and Lavinder to be invited to study and dance at the English National Ballet School. Joel, who is several years ahead of Lavinder, went on to work with the acclaimed Alvin Ailey Dance Company of Chicago, USA. But he had planned to return to Kenya especially to be in this year’s ‘Nutcracker’. However, at the last minute, his plans were changed. “Joel just got a job dancing with the Milwaukee Ballet Company,” Cooper told BDLife shortly after she got the news herself. But Lavinder, being several years younger than Joel, just got back from London and will star as this year’s Sugar Plum Fairy. She will be dancing opposite the fabulous principal dancer from the Turkish State Ballet and Opera Company, Yigit Erhan, who had just flown to Kenya to join his good friend Cooper as DCK’s Guest Artist performing in The Nutcracker. He will dance the part of the Prince, a role Cooper re-choreographed in order to maximize on Yigit’s special gifts as a dancer. For he dances like a flying angel, swirling above ground as if his feet defied gravity. One might even describe him as the Michael Jordon of the DCK ballet. Yigit’s premiere performance in a DCK production was in 2020 when he starred as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and was warmly received for his performance. The Nutcracker was originally commissioned by the director of Moscow’s Imperial Theatre in 1891. It premiered in St. Petersburg with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa a week before Christmas in 1892. Since then, everyone from George Balanchine and Rudolf Nureyev to Mikhail Baryshnikov and our Cooper Rust has choreographed their own version of what has now become a holiday classic staged all over the world. Cooper admits she tweaks the ballet dance-wise every year, depending on various factors, but always, the goal has been to maximize the beauty of the performance and allow her students to shine. This year, Tchaikovsky’s music will be performed live by the DCK Orchestra under the professional baton of conductor Levy Wataka. And a new backdrop is being painted by the Kenyan artist, Robinson. The costuming has also been given special attention as parents are also enlisted to help the Centre create an even more magical experience at this year’s Nutcracker. The Gala night will be Saturday, December 2nd, but the first performances will be this coming weekend, from Friday, November 24th to Sunday, November 26th.