The Nutcracker at Wethersfield follows New York City Ballet to a wintry estate, to December 28 at VIFF Centre
The Leading Ladies bring to life Duke Ellington’s swingy twist on Tchaikovsky score at December 14 screening
The Nutcracker at Wethersfield
VIFF Centre screens The Nutcracker at Wethersfield December 19 to 23 and December 28; The Leading Ladies Perform Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite before the screening on December 14 at 5 pm as part of VIFF Live
AMID THE BRUTAL COVID lockdowns during the winter of 2020, the New York City Ballet had to cancel its performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker for the first time in its 65-year history.
But choreographer Troy Schumacher managed to pull off a Christmas miracle worthy of a holiday special, setting about staging The Nutcracker in and around the wintry wonderland of the Wethersfield country estate in the Hudson Valley.
Filmmaker Annie Sundberg (The Devil Came on Horseback) captures the process, and ensuing show, as 50 dancers and production crew members are able to reimagine the classic as a stripped-down spectacle for a socially distanced audience. It’s no easy task. Hint: amid the sparkling tutus there will also be snow shovels and heat lamps.
At the same time, she explores all the associations that come from The Nutcracker—a work that for ballet dancers, as they put it in this documentary, is in their “bones” and in their “blood”.
VIFF screens the beautifully shot film throughout the holidays, with a special event surrounding the December 14 showing. As part of its VIFF Live series, the Leading Ladies, directed by trombonist Casey Thomas-Burns, play legendary composer-arrangers Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s jazz twist on the classic Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker Suite. Let’s just say it will have a little more swing than you’ll see onscreen. 
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