Tchaikovsky's Gran Pas De Deux for The Nutcracker

Many are familiar with Tchaikovsky's Op. 71, or as it more commonly known; the music of The Nutcracker ballet. As a child, The Nutcracker was my favorite ballet, as most ballet companies would perform it during the holiday season, which also fell around the time for my birthday. The costumes, the story, the dancing, and most importantly, the music inspired me to want to do ballet. While I was not able to continue to pursue dance much past childhood, I still remember dance and The Nutcracker fondly.

This past holiday season I went to go see Boston Ballet's production of The Nutcracker as part of an assignment for a ballet class I chose to take at UNH. I was excited to yet again experience the magic that I remembered. However, with my new perspective and opinions on dance, afterwards I felt conflicted about the performance. While it was just as magical to see The Nutcracker and it brought back many wonderful childhood memories, I couldn't help but feel like there was something missing in the balletic movements that were unable to capture the full emotions in Tchaikovsky's music, particularly in the andante maesto portion of the Gran Pas De Deux choreography.

Throughout history, there have been many artistically expressive dances that did not fully compliment the music. Ballet is a primary example, for the dance style is more often a demonstration of physical ability. However, when choreography is paired with famous and heart-rendering compositions like Tchaikovsky's Op. 71, it is important that the dance showcases the beauty of the music as well. Although ballet is a graceful form of expression, the physical feats that are performed when dancing ballet does not allow for big enough and continuous movements to fit such a piece like the Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker. A piece of choreography and a musical composition can be incredible on their own, but if the two do not fit well together when they are brought side by side, each of the artistic pieces down plays the other.

While the Pas de Deux of The Nutcracker at the Boston Ballet production was beautifully performed and was expressive in and of itself, ballet as an art form is simply unable to express all of the dynamic swells and accents in the andante maesto part of the Pas de Deux. Historically, Pas de Deux sections of ballets were created in order to present the technical talent of the principal couple. Therefore, the focus of ballet usually isn't on expressing the music, but more frequently to present an impressive showcase of skill. Also, Tchaikovsky wrote the music for the original production of The Nutcracker in order to compliment the dancing as a separate entity, rather than have the dancing perfectly compliment the music. It is understandable that by nature, the ballet choreography would be unable to completely encompass the music.

However, with my love for dancing and the Pas de Deux music in The Nutcracker, I felt disappointed that such an amazing piece of music was not fully expressed in a physical form. I thought about finding a more dynamic form of expression and I came upon an ice skating routine performed by Isabella Tobias and Ilia Tkachenko to Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux music for The Nutcracker. Being on ice means that the two ice skaters are almost constantly moving to the music, which allows them to more dynamically express Thcaikovsky's music. Although, the lifts on the end of the builds are impressive and compliment the music well, it is the connecting movements between the builds that bring the choreography and the music together. The smooth transitions and gliding in between the emotional maneuvers enhance the melody of the music, allowing for a powerful artistic piece in both music and in movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krmYT50H3is