Bengt Jorgen gives the skinny on his ‘The Nutcracker A Canadian Tradition’

Each December, as sure as winter snow and Santa Claus, Ballet Jorgen brings its “The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition” to town. And each year folks who love ballet as well as those who don’t know a pirouette from a plié turn out to celebrate.

Jorgen’s first “Nutcracker” was produced in 1995 and was an artistic success.

“If you want to be a dance company responsive to the communities you work in, you must do work that those communities are interested in. Theatres wanted more classical ballets that could engage the entire community — children, parents and grandparents; something they could go see as a family. Our ‘Nutcracker’ was a response to that.”

But Ballet Jorgen didn’t rest there.

“By 2007, we thought it was time to redefine our relationship to ‘The Nutcracker,’ to make it a more artistically engaging experience, something unique. We came up with the idea of working in partnership with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., and to use Group of Seven paintings as the backdrop for the story, transposing the production to 1912 northern Ontario. ‘The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition’ was first performed in Charlottetown in 2008. It has become the standout ‘Nutcracker’ production in Canada.”

Jorgen’s production did away with culturally insensitive dances and showed how you could refresh a classic without losing anything.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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• Dec 31, 1969
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“We have done ‘The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition’ in 84 communities and given 650 performances up to the start of the 2023 season. It returns Dec. 2 to Hamilton, where it set an attendance record last season at FirstOntario Concert Hall.”

Jorgen is insistent his “Nutcracker” should give everyone a good time.

“Why aren’t there more ballets like this one that are accessible and give audiences a good time? Why not ballets that don’t take themselves too seriously, have melodic music, beautiful dancing and also have fun scenes that make you laugh? ‘The Nutcracker’ is a ballet that says come and have a good time. Bring your family and friends.”

Jorgen believes ballet is not something to fear.

“Ballet is just a language. It is what you do and say with it that matters. You don’t have to love ballet to have a good time at ‘The Nutcracker.’ If we create more ballets like this, and that is what we are doing at Ballet Jorgen, then ballet will be viewed as fully inclusive and accessible.”

Jorgen has a long history with “The Nutcracker” and danced the National Ballet of Canada’s version in Hamilton at what was then Hamilton Place in 1982.

“I am honouring the traditional version of ‘The Nutcracker.’ But what is that version? People in North America think of the traditional version as the one that came out of Britain in the 1930s. But this ballet became a Christmas juggernaut in North America. It is not as popular in other parts of the world. Little of what we have today can be traced back to the original.”

Jorgen has consciously reflected on the original scenes of the ballet, but transcribed the elements to a setting far removed from a European upper middle-class milieu.

“We wanted to capture a period around the First World War when Canada started to think of itself as its own nation. The characters and their activities reflect normal people in those northern Ontario communities. Ours is also an immigrant story reflecting the path of so many of us who came to live in Canada today.”

For Jorgen, Drosselmeyer has become a woodsman painter and the Sugar Plum Fairy is Lady Birch.

Jorgen says you can either break with tradition or work with it to develop it further.

“People keep coming to ‘The Nutcracker’ because it makes them feel good,” Jorgen says.

He knows Ballet Jorgen dancers love performing here in Hamilton, too.

“The most important reason is the audience and the ambience are always very warm, which is incredibly motivating. The major challenge we are facing is that we must support a very large portion of our Hamilton programming with box office and private donor support. Most of the public funding for dance goes to Toronto and Ottawa. Most recently, after a record-breaking season where we reached 45,000 Ontarians, our Ontario Arts Council support was cut by 16 per cent.

“We are so grateful to the individuals, corporations and foundations here in Hamilton that keep us going. To all of them, a huge thank you.”

Don’t miss a chance to celebrate Ballet Jorgen and “The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition.” We need this kind of joy in our city.

Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for 40 years as well as for a variety of international publications. gsmith1@cogeco.ca

The Nutcracker A Canadian Tradition

Who Ballet Jorgen

Where First Ontario Concert Hall, Summers Lane

When Dec. 2 at 2 p.m.

Tickets $48-$99 coreentertainment.ca or 905-546-4040