Ballet Jörgen's New Group of Seven Nutcracker
Tara Butler on Bengt Jörgen's Canadian take of Tchaikovsky classic.
Dec 20, 2008
After 13 years of the tried and true traditional Nutcracker, Ballet Jorgen artistic director Bengt Jörgen cleverly decided to repolish this old chestnut, transporting Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite to the Canadian woodlands, providing as inspired backdrops the three Group of Seven paintings: Franklin Carmichael's Church and Houses at Bisset, Tom Thomson's Snow in the Woods and L.L. Fitzgerald's Trees and Wildflowers, from Kleinburg Ontario's McMicheal Gallery Art Collection.
In the following four part series, Ballet Jörgen’s Tara Butler unlaces her pointe shoes for a candid chat from why this New Nutcracker has a special personal connection, to Fear and Loathing on The Tour Bus Trail, and that ever looming question of Arts and the Economy.
Why did Bengt Jörgen decide to set The Nutcracker in the Northern Ontario wilderness during the early 1900s?
Tara Butler: " I think this was a brilliant idea and Bengt has always been really big on making sure that we have a high content of Canadian dancers. Since he has lived in Canada for almost 25 to 30 years, (Bengt hails from Sweden) he has always really loved Canada. It means a lot to him and he based the company in Toronto but we tour the entire country and that is really important to him. We go to every tiny little place there is as well as the big centres, so for him it made perfect sense to do the Algonquin Group of Seven theme and being inspired by the Group of Seven isn’t too difficult."
Hence The "New" Nutcracker?
Tara Butler: "It’s a really unique production and it really works, but sometimes when you start a new production, you never know how it’s going to take off or what the response is going to be because you become so involved in it and you don’t have a very objective opinion."
When did Bengt begin thinking of this concept?
Tara Butler: "Bengt has been talking about the idea for over a year and I know through the process of developing the ideas and deciding on the Group of Seven being the inspiration. We are actually using three different paintings as backdrops, which is the collaboration with The McMichael Gallery. The first time I heard Bengt speak of this was during the last Nutcracker. We were saying that we really need to revamp this and that’s when the seed was planted but who knows how long Bengt has been mulling over the idea. It started shaping up last Christmas."
The three Group of Seven paintings … are they the ones most suited to the text?
Tara Butler: "Looking at them now? Yes, Absolutely. The paintings are all very unique in that that they show Canadian life in a year or two because the first one is very wintery and then it goes through to the spring for the second act. They really show the seasons as well which is a big part of Canada. We are one of the countries that have four full seasons."
So Bengt selected the paintings and wrote the story himself.
Tara Butler: "Bengt is very creative in that sense as well. Nutcracker is always easy to market in a way because it has become a family tradition but often the story is a little lost and it becomes ...not fluff ...not that there is not a lot of guts to it... but Bengt, through the inspiration of the paintings, and also being Bengt, wanted to make the dance more interesting and really bring out the beauty of it all. He loves story so he developed the concept of the Nutcracker into something a little more interesting and in depth as well."
Part Two - Tara Butler on the new Nutcracker characters, and waiting out a Halifax snow storm.
To find the nearest performance for the Group of Seven Nutcracker, go to Ballet Jörgen
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