B.C. dancer Tymin Keown brings the magic to Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker
Rising Victoria-raised star never saw the Tchaikovsky classic until he was 20—and now jetés between seven roles
Mice take on toy soldiers in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker. Photo by RWB
Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer Tymin Keown. Photo by David Cooper
Ballet BC presents the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from December 13 to 15
IT COMES AS A surprise that Tymin Keown didn’t see the Nutcracker for the first time until he was 20—especially considering he dances for one of the top ballet companies in the country. Not to mention the fact he now knows the show inside out, rotating between seven far-flung roles in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s ornate, snow-powdered touring production.
The rising Victoria-raised RWB star was a soccer, volleyball, and basketball buff who only began training in the art form when he was 16.
“Because I started dancing so late, I never was a part of a Nutcracker production,” says Keown, who also trained in the RWB’s professional program. “I’d actually only ever seen it once, because during my time in the [Royal Winnipeg Ballet] school, we weren’t ever there during the performances of Nutcracker. So I didn’t see it until I was back in Victoria, and they came there in 2018. It’s crazy how late I had my first experience. I think I was 20 when I saw the Nutcracker for the first time!”
Now the B.C. ballet standout is making up for lost time, learning Nutcracker from every angle: he’s dancing not only the lead part of Drosselmeier in the production that soon visits Vancouver, but multitasks across six other parts as well, from the rambunctious, snaggletoothed Mouse King to a toy soldier to a dancer in the sultry, mysterious Arabian pas de deux.
But it’s Drosselmeier—the mysterious, magician-like godfather to the heroine Clara in Tchaikovsky’s ballet—that Keown enjoys most. The character sets the entire plot in motion with a spell that magically grows a parlour Christmas tree into a towering tannenbaum, and he spends almost the entire ballet onstage.
In RWB’s uniquely Canadian-set version, originally choreographed by Galina Yordanova and Nina Menon, Drosselmeier pulls off some stunning virtuosic dancing, as well.
“Nutcracker is all about joy and magic, and with Drosselmeier, you embody that,” Keown explains. “One of my favourite parts is when Drosselmeier grows the tree. As you’re doing it, you really feel like you’re pushing that tree up, and using your power to change the set. And then at the end, Drosselmeier brings the curtain down. There’s something about that feeling of controlling those parts; normally in any other ballet you don’t feel like you control what’s happening. And it really pushes that feeling of magic.”
On Keown’s end, the beauty is that all of it—the Nutcracker as well as his ballet career—still feels so fresh and new. But when he first tried the technically demanding art form, it didn’t exactly come easy to the then-16-year-old.
“I actually really didn’t like ballet when I started,” he admits with a laugh, “because it was just very precise. And maybe because I started late, I felt like I wasn’t at the level I needed to be at, and it was a lot of work. It took me a while until I discovered that I actually loved that process. I loved how much you have to push yourself and how there’s a right way and you’re always striving for it, and you’re never done working. I feel, in ballet, it can always be better and you can always continue to improve. And I love that now.”
Tymin Keown.
Keown is equally happy at the company he calls home. Having trained at RWB, he spent two years at Ballet Victoria before heading back to work at the Winnipeg company in early 2020 in the city he calls his “second home”. The troupe, far beyond offering the classical beauty of Nutcracker, allows him to venture into neoclassical and contemporary works as well.
“I personally love the neoclassical style because it takes the best of both worlds, and it feels like a really good fit for me,” he says. “But I do enjoy the classics as well. There’s something special about preparing a ballet that has been going on for generations, and just really tapping into that pure classical aesthetic. And I really enjoy the process of contemporary: you’re exploring your body and finding new ways to move.”
All of this makes him a strong advocate for any aspiring young dancer considering showing their stuff when the Royal Winnipeg Ballet hosts auditions in Vancouver on January 12 at Arts Umbrella. Like Keown, who, as a kid didn’t know what a jeté was let alone fathoming a career in ballet, sometimes you never know how things will turn out if you just go for it.
“I think the worst thing you can do for yourself as a dancer is not take the chance, right?” he says, advising: “I feel like if it’s something you love, you’re going to naturally just want to push for it. The best advice I can give is just continue to explore and continue to work and be kind to yourself and know that change isn’t immediate. Sometimes things happen slowly and sometimes things happen quickly. And be kind and patient with yourself, especially if you’re someone like me, who started late but still wants to take on a career like this: it’s definitely possible, you just have to really work for it. If you don’t take that shot, you’ll never know, right?” 
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