so he said, bring on the snowflakes....

Always, every year, December, you hear Nutcracker music in the malls in HK.   Maybe everywhere else too.  And having done many many Nutcrackers myself, I start seeing the steps in my head, I don't quite break out into a waltz but so easily could. 

And a while ago, I read an article about casting without limits which brings up all sorts of pros and cons.  I wondered if dead playwrights wouldn't be rolling in their graves knowing all the interpretations going on with their plays.  But then again, seeing things in a new light is always good....old thing new things beget sort of thing.  Read the article here:

http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/dec10/casting.cfm

And so that leads me to Mark Morris, The Hard Nut....his interpretation of the Nutcracker, and it's fantastic.  He is known in the ballet world as casting with out gender bias.  He has men partner men, women lift women, as well as the regular man and woman partnering.  He works his entire company on stage and when he needs a full stage of snowflakes, he uses everyone.  So I say, bring on the snowflakes, this is the waltz I hear in the malls:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsK33m6f3o8