Guest Review: THE NUTCRACKER SUITE by Dorrance Dance Turns NY City Center into a Jazz Haven

We welcome this guest review by Elizabeth Blosfield. She is the deputy editor of a national trade magazine covering the financial services industry and a creative writer, with work published in UP Magazine, Thought Catalog, Reapparition Journal, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Having studied ballet since she was three years old, Elizabeth is also a ballet instructor and the creator and host of The Adult Ballet Studio, a People's Choice Podcast Awards nominated podcast featuring interviews with adults who have returned to ballet or discovered it later in life as well as anyone working to make ballet inclusive for all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

New York City Center was transformed into a golden age jazz club this weekend as Dorrance Dance’s The Nutcracker Suite took the stage from Friday, November 22, through Sunday, November 24.

The show was created by award-winning tap dancer, artistic director and founder of Dorrance Dance, Michelle Dorrance, alongside collaborators Josette Wiggan and Hannah Heller.

For an hour, audiences were transported into a spirited New York Christmas party, complete with live music and a glittering backdrop, before experiencing a dynamic reinterpretation of the classic Nutcracker tale.

Billed as part concert and part tap ballet, the production opened with An Ella'quent Holiday Swing, a tribute to American jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald and Frank DeVol. Vocalist Aaron Marcellus was the perfect host to guide audiences through what felt like a lively evening inside a vibrant 1930s New York jazz club.

Marcellus bantered with the audience in between crooning soulful holiday classics alongside a live band with Warren Craft on drums, Michael Jellich on piano, and Gregory Richardson on bass. Dancers in brightly colored costumes delivered a series of solos, duets, and ensemble numbers, seamlessly blending humor, exuberance, and a touch of camp. As a featured soloist, Michelle Dorrance herself gave a standout performance as did special guest and soloist Brinae Ali - both were greeted with loud applause from the audience upon their entrances. The audience’s enthusiastic clapping, laughter, and cheers mirrored the inviting energy on stage.

This section’s brevity worked to its advantage, avoiding the potential monotony of overplayed holiday classics. Instead, inventive choreography combined with big-band arrangements and Marcellus’s warm vocals offered a refreshing experience. As the final notes faded, a bittersweet sense of fulfillment lingered—a reflection of the fleeting, nostalgic magic of the holiday season.

The curtain then lifted to reveal a colorful set as the show seamlessly transitioned into a new spin on the Nutcracker, or as the show’s program noted, “a rhythmaturgical evocation of the super-leviathonic enchantments of Duke and Billy’s supreme adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.”

Indeed, The Nutcracker Suite was set to Tchaikovsky’s original music arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with a larger-than-life set design that created a storybook atmosphere. Beginning the evening with a holiday party itself was an effective choice for transitioning into the Nutcracker’s opening party scene and simultaneously pulling the audience into the action. Those seeking the reserved, stoic intensity of a classical ballet audience would need to look elsewhere - this was an immersive, interactive experience in which the audience’s involvement seemed key to the show’s energy and storytelling.

With less than an hour to move through an abbreviated version of the story, the choreography was stunning, visual, and each move well-placed and intentional. The majority of focus was on Clara’s trip through the land of the sweets, offering many opportunities for dancers to showcase their talent, striking rhythmic composition, and a bit of improvisation.

Fluidity of movement and the cast’s chemistry meant each step appeared to be conjured on the spot, which isn’t to downplay the extreme technical difficulty of the movements and the time and labor intensive process of putting a show like this together. This made it all the more impressive that the dancers seemed to transcend all of that, making it appear effortless.

The score also effortlessly blended with the choreography, which was further enriched by strategic moments of silence used to powerful effect, including acapella tap battles and soft scraping sounds during The Snow Passage - the show’s version of the Nutcracker’s iconic snow scene.

As it turns out, taking a beloved holiday story and injecting it with an emotive jazz score, imaginative choreography and a healthy dose of humor created a world in which even adults could rediscover the wonder and delight of their childhoods in the hour they were immersed in holiday magic.

At one point during the show, Marcellus asked, “How many kids are in the audience?”

Clapping and laughter ensued.

He then asked, “How many adult kids are in the audience?”

The thunderous shouts and applause were evidence of a successful twist on the Nutcracker story and a joyful, swinging celebration of the holiday season.

After all, as Marcellus quoted Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s popular jazz standard at the beginning of the show, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

To learn more about Dorrance Dance, please visit HERE.

New York City Center is located at 131 W. 55th Street, New York, NY  10019.  To learn more about upcoming performances please visit HERE and call 212.581.1212.

Photo Credit: Christopher Duggan

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