Blue Umbrella Official Blue Umbrella Winter 2018 Issue | Page 6

The Mor
Nutcracke
r
e t han j ust
By: Erica L.
and Sabrina L.
a Bal l et
The Nutcracker is a story that people all around
the world recreate to celebrate the Christmas
season. The story is not always told the same, but
the core of the story is usually similar.
The story usually starts with a party scene.
Many ballets depict the party in Clara's house,
though some ballets add local history to the
Nutcracker by depicting Clara's Christmas party in
a significant historical building.
The party welcomes family, friends, and
Clara's beloved Uncle Drosselmeyer. He brings
magic tricks and dolls to the party. His dolls are no
ordinary dolls, though. They are life-size and
dance.
After they have performed, gifts are usually
given to the children at the party and Drosselmeyer
gives Clara and her little brother, Fritz, Christmas
presents. Clara receives a Nutcracker and dances
with her new gift, moving the mouth up and down to
show the party guests how it works.
Fritz wishes that he had gotten the
Nutcracker and schemes to take it away from his
sister. He sneaks up behind her and grabs the
Nutcracker. The siblings commence a tug-of-war in
attempt to retrieve the gift from the other. Finally,
Fritz loses his grip on the Nutcracker as the arm he
was holding onto breaks. The party attendees are
grieved by the broken Nutcracker. Drosselmeyer
takes the doll from Clara and wraps its arm in a
handkerchief to "fix" it.
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The now somber scene is disrupted by Fritz
who runs around with the Christmas gift his parents
gave to him, which is often a horn or drum.