Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things to know about the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Nutcracker

Intricate snowflake tutus, nods to pond hockey and Mounties, and a Vancouver-born Sugar Plum Fairy as it visits Vancouver December 9 to 11

By Janet Smith

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker inhabits a wintry wonderland. Photo by David Cooper

THE ROYAL WINNIPEG Ballet’s Nutcracker is finally back in its full, snow-sprinkled glory after a few years of pandemic absences.

After that hiatus, many of the smallest audience members going to the Ballet BC presentation December 9 to 11 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre will be seeing the holiday tradition for the first time.

Here are a few things to know about this critically lauded version of the ballet set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score.

#1

This rendition of Nutcracker moves the action from Imperial Russia to Canada at the turn of the last century. The production opens with a hockey game on a frozen pond and features RCMP officers in a battle on Parliament Hill with the evil Mouse King; iconic Hudson’s Bay blankets even make an appearance. The setting is inspired by an actual estate on Winnipeg’s Wellington Crescent.

#2

Galina Yordanova, who was once a ballerina with the famed Bolshoi Ballet, choreographed this Nutcracker’s exquisite Act 2. Watch for its true, old-school Russian beauty—especially in the Waltz of the Flowers. Yordanova worked with Nina Menon to choreograph the new Nutcracker in 1999 to mark RWB’s landmark 60th season.

#3

RWB’s wardrobe department makes each costume in-house, sewing precious details by hand—and it can take the team 50 hours just to sew a single, intricate snowflake tutu. Original costume designer (and former RWB dancer!) Paul Daigle told Ballet BC last month, the fabric for the Mouse King’s costume is a luxurious Versace fabric.

#4

Staging Nutcracker is a logistical feat, with fly cues that move 32 pieces of scenery. The final minutes alone require three spectacular scene changes—from a pas de deux in a magical kingdom to 12-year-old Clara’s bedroom to a trip outdoors to watch fresh snow fall. A small army of stagehands is required to pull it all off.

#5

Vancouver-born dancer Kyra Soo is dancing the famous Sugar Plum Fairy role on December 9 and on December 11’s evening performance here. She started her formal training at 13 at the Goh Ballet Academy, under longtime instructors Yao Ping Zhu and Chan Hon Goh, joining the RWB in 2021 as an apprentice.

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