Russian master returns Leeside for the production of 'The Nutcracker'

It’s fitting that the Russian star should come from the country where Nutcracker was born, and where the stern tradition of ballet has continued unbroken throughout some of the most seismic historic changes that country has seen.

Ballet was loved and nurtured under the reign of the czars, and you would have thought that when Nicholas and his family were brutally wiped out in 1918, all such culture would have been exterminated too.

Yet under the new Communist regime, it not only continued but was cherished and expanded, with every corner of the now far-flung Soviet Union searched annually for new talent to be taken up and polished into rare jewels.

Some 70 years on, another upheaval led to the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of the new independent Russian state. And here, today, the tradition continues as strongly as before, stronger perhaps than in any other country. Truly, ballet is deeply ingrained in the very DNA of Russia.

The very first production of Nutcracker was in 1892 at the Marinsky in St Petersburg, using, as was then the custom, a great many children from the ballet school, both in the party scenes and in small character roles. Later the use of young students became disapproved of, and they were largely written out, their roles being taken by adult dancers.

Even Clara, the central figure who dreams herself into the magical Otherworld is now often danced by an adult rather than the wondering child she should be. Perhaps it is better so; yet, these brief appearances in professional productions were an important part of training for the Russian children, giving them valuable experience that would stand them in good stead in the future.

And surely the Nutcracker should be about childhood and the magic of Christmas and toys and fantastic dreams, rather than the darker interpretations we sometimes find onstage today, where growing up, experiencing both violence and love, can be insinuating undercurrents of the performance.

Cork City Ballet’s children’s coach and teacher - Sinead Murphy prepping her young dancers for the launch of the Brown Thomas windows last week, ahead of our production of ‘The Nutcracker’, which opens Thursday 8th November at Cork Opera House. #nutcracker #cork #ballet pic.twitter.com/unm2nI2xJP

— Cork City Ballet (@CorkCityBallet) October 25, 2018

Those young students, after all, needed all the early onstage experience they could get. It was a hard world in a Russian ballet school, and to succeed they had to devote themselves round the clock, throughout the year, to striving, struggling, pushing their bodies beyond the limits, becoming the very best they could be and then perhaps a little more.

Otherwise, you had no future there. But if you did have an overpowering love for the dance, and a fierce ambition to get to the top, then your future was assured. That was no small thing in a huge country where culture largely stopped at the outskirts of Moscow or St Petersburg, and the peasantry lived from day to day, hoping only to have enough to survive.

Choreographing the current production is Yury Demakov, long-time associate of Cork City Ballet, but with the most impeccable Russian balletic pedigree. Born in St Petersburg, he was placed by his mother at the Bolshoi at an early age. It was a hard separation from family, recalls Demakov, and a harsh life.

He describes the Bolshoi of that late 1960s/early ’70s as “almost like being in prison, because you were not allowed out alone, and from dawn until dark you worked, worked, worked”.

When he applied, there were 600 eager applicants for just ten places. After all, he points out practically, in his day it was one of the very few ways you could get on in life, be

assured of care and enough food, move up, and perhaps even tour with a company to other lands.

And we loved it. We were always ready to give it everything.

He laughs as he remembers how they would get a litre of milk and “how do you call it – a yard of bread? A baguette, that is it,” and wolf these down before tumbling into bed.

Then up again the next morning for more punishing exercises in class and perhaps the excitement of appearing briefly in a professional production. His eyes twinkle as he leans closer to impart a secret.

“Now and again, you know, some of us older boys would tiptoe out at night and go to a club where you could dance. Oh we loved to do that, but we had to be careful getting back in without being discovered. And we still had to be up bright and early for class!”

Things are different today, you would imagine. The modern dancer, brought up on easy living, mobile phones, constant travel, Facebook friends across the globe, is hardly likely to accept the harsh strictures of an old-world ballet career.

Russian ballet stars Ekaterina Bortyakova and Akzhol Mussakhanov will bring you on a spectacular journey through the Land of Snow’ to the ‘Kingdom of Sweets’, in Cork City Ballet’s magical production of ‘The Nutcracker’. Opening Thursday 8th November at Cork Opera House. pic.twitter.com/kMJ8jaDee3

— Cork City Ballet (@CorkCityBallet) October 14, 2018

And yet, you know, when you look around the rehearsal room, things aren’t that different.

Among the twenty or so young people sliding, pirouetting, leaping, following instructions keenly as Demakov gesticulates and demonstrates, stress and exhaustion can be discerned. One flew in last night from Vancouver, another only this morning from Japan.

The French and Spanish members of the company had it a little easier, as did those coming across from the UK, but they have all only met this morning for the first time, and are now already deep in choreographic intricacies.

Jet lag, homesickness, hunger and confusion have to be put on one side while the most important task is faced – dancing well enough to be given, hopefully, a cameo role in the production.

The keen eyes of director Alan Foley and ballet mistress Patricia Crosbie flicker constantly from one figure to another, noting a flashing smile, a crisp turn, or alternatively a clumsy step, a too-stiff arm.

Today’s dancers rarely have the luxury of belonging to a permanent ballet company such as the Bolshoi or the Royal Ballet. Instead they have to be prepared to pack their bags and head off across the globe to a new production.

Their posting has been achieved by YouTube clips sent ahead to the commissioning director, from which their ability, their technique and their overall appeal have been assessed. They rehearse, for all too brief a time, perform, and then are off again, hopefully to a new production, new acquaintances, another town, another country.

That’s probably why Demakov, despite his obsessive drive for perfection and excellence, seems quite gentle with the young company as he guides them through the movements. They don’t need to be reminded that they are on trial. They don’t need to be told how cold the world outside can be. They drive themselves. They have to.

“Oh you just wait until later on in rehearsals,” laughs Alan Foley.

When they should be getting it absolutely right, and they don’t, Then you’ll hear a few rages, I can tell you!

The age-old rules that govern traditional Russian ballet training are part of Demakov’s soul. He will accept nothing but the absolute best from his company, no matter what it takes to get it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Irish Examiner (@irish_examiner)

The audience out front on opening night will see nothing but magic and beauty. That’s the way it has always been.

The Nutcracker, Cork City Ballet, Cork Opera House, November 8-10.