Sugar Plum Me

Before I could attend my High School of choice, on the corner of 68th ST and 2nd Avenue, I had to attend a mandatory orientation. It was a specialized high school where I was planning to major in Dance- mostly Ballet. To my surprise, the orientation wasn’t the average information session; it was a performance by all the dance majored seniors at the school- they were performing "The Nutcracker”.

“The Nutcracker” is a traditional performance for Ballet around Christmas time; the performance is based on the book, that later became a few different movies, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King written by E.T.A. Hoffmann; but the Ballet was actually written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky during the early 1890's in Russia (Bedinghaus).

The story is based off a dream dreamed by a child named Carla after she received a gift- an actual nutcracker, in a Christmas Party, and her brother, Fritz, breaks it (History). Like the book and the movie, the performance is broken up into five different sections: The "Party Scene", "Mouse Scene", "Snow Scene", "Land of the Sweets", and "Carla Awakens" (Bedinghaus).

When the curtain opened, and festive horn instruments started playing, it was the first time I had ever heard something so beautiful; I felt like it was the kind of music they play in heaven. In the second to last scene, "Land of the Sweets",  It was the first time I heard "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy".

In this scene, the Sugar Plum Fairy celebrates over the festivities held in Clara's honor when the Nutcracker killed the Mouse King and breaks the magic spell, so he turns into a Prince. This is one of the most important scenes in the performance (Sugar).

That particular dance reminded me of all the Christmases I had as a child, the music was enlightening, and I wasn't sure I could ever feel that level of happiness until that very moment. After watching "The Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy", I knew I wanted to continue in majoring in dance.

I understood why this orientation was mandatory; I learned the school always had festive shows where the majors inside the school, dance, vocal, musical theatre, and drama would perform, and that not all orientations are lectures. Although I never got to be the sugar plum fairy, I still performed in all the Christmas shows- and in each piece, I was the sugar plum me.

Work Cited:

Bedinghaus, Treva. “Guide to 'The Nutcracker' Ballet.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com. Accessed Oct. 3, 2017

“History of the Nutcracker.” History of Nutcracker, www.nutcracker.com. Accessed Oct. 3, 2017

“Sugar Plum Fairy (Character).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com. Accessed Oct. 4, 2017