The Nutcracker is a huge part of the holidays for many families across North America. The Christmas season is full of traditions that have lasted throughout history, and one of the most iconic is the story of Clara. This year, Dance Victoria is hosting Edmonton’s Ukrainian Shumka Dancers for their adapatation of the tale, with the help of Victoria Symphony.
“It’s so recognizable in terms of music,” says Ukrainian Shumka Dancers executive director Darka Tarnawsky. “You hear it and you think of Christmas.”
The magic, the adventure, and the Sugar Plum Fairy all blend together in a captivating show that draws audiences back every year.
“It’s our own kind of Ukrainian version of the Christmas classic,” says Tarnawsky. “Basically, it’s the same story and music that you would see at a ballet production of The Nutcracker, but it also incorporates Ukrainian traditions. It includes Ukrainian costuming, choreography, music… It’s got lots of energy and excitement. Lots of eye candy, I guess you could say—splits and jumps, leaps and turns. It’s a pretty high-energy version of the production.”
With a cast of over 95 performers, Shumka’s Nutcracker has many moving parts, and like every other organization this year, Shumka is facing the many challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a tough time for them,” says Tarnawsky about the Shumka dancers. “They love to dance and perform, and there were a few months when they weren’t rehearsing in the studio at all. All rehearsals were via Zoom, so they were doing their rehearsals in their kitchens or living rooms or basements, or wherever they had space.”
With performing groups so dependent on in-person shows, Dance Victoria has had to drastically alter their ways of showcasing performances for the 2020/21 season. All performances are virtual, with no current plans in place to move back to in-person performances.
“What we did is we took footage from 2017, when we had a number of cameras that came and videotaped various angles of our show at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. We had all that footage in storage, but never got to editing it all together. So when we got this opportunity from Dance Victoria, we invested in getting it all edited and put together in one big package. It’s now a recorded version of our Nutcracker.”
Tarnawsky also comments that the recorded version is very similar to their performance last year at the Royal Theatre. There are a few changes in terms of cast members, but the show still has the same iconic music, choreography, and set.
“It is the full Shumka’s Nutcracker from start to finish, just in a video presentation,” she says,
The new avenues open to the group have not been lost on them. With all of their performances pre-recorded and accessible online, these talented performers have a greater potential to reach wider audiences than ever before.
“This virtual season is a great opportunity and it also allows us to potentially get to people who couldn’t come to see our shows,” says Tarnawsky. “We’ve been really trying to focus on expanding our brand internationally because of this virtual platform we’re using. It’s always better to be live and in person, but this is the second best we can do.”
The Nutcracker
From 5 pm Thursday, December 10 to 5 pm Sunday, December 13
$25, dancevictoria.com