Casse Noisette

In 1997, when I was asked to present The Nutcracker, I thought it would be tricky to show this work with 12 dancers, when it had been conceived for a much larger nomber of dancers. Then I thought that since everything became possible in that tale for children, after the clock struck twelve, why should that time not also help the dream of older children? So, I accepted, but I needed more to approach that project. A little before that, I had discovered the «rebirthing», a respiratory method which ensures your well-being after a great number of contradictory feelings. In the course of that «renaissance», from anguish to paradisiac visions, anything may happen as is the case in tales. he Nutcracker was staged as a result of that experience. It gives meaning to Drosselmeyer’s acts. They guide Marie’s spirit through his inspiration towards the land of dreams at the same time as her body is shaken by strange convulsions.

Like other choreographers, I returned to Hoffmann’s initial text published in 1816. Dumas father will be inspired by it to write his Nuremberg Nutcracker, a version that will have the favour of Marius Petipa to the creation of the ballet in 1892. But it is said that Tchaikowski, who would have preferred the first, was disappointed by this choice. No doubt, the composer regretted that the argument ignores the episode of La noix dure related only by Hoffmann. Tale inside the tale, La noix dure is a fantastic story that is told to Marie. He relaunches the dramatic process and makes it possible to learn that Nutcracker is none other than Drosselmeyer’s nephew, victim of a spell that only love can release. A revelation that would have allowed Tchaikovsky to compose a more dramatic second act. But Petipa, who had the requirement to employ a large workforce, preferred to conclude with entertainment. We know that we were in an opposite situation, which is why the second act of our Nutcracker integrates The Hard Nut. In this ballet where Hoffmann’s delusions are projected, Tchaikowski’s shadow seems to hover over the character of Drosselmeyer. The three of them, these men make the universe of the heroine a magic lantern where she, the enlightened child, walks towards inner peace. By loving Nutcracker, she is a messenger of their desire, that of a happiness expected in the evening of life.