Ex-Royal Ballet Principal Talks Nutcracker Season

By Charlotte Edwards

Each Christmas, thousands of Londoners flock to see The Nutcracker.

The two-act classical ballet, which debuted in 1892, was the last of three ballets by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. It is set on Christmas Eve, at the foot of a Christmas tree, in the imagination of a young girl named Clara.

The story of the ballet is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 tale of the same name, itself a retelling of the 1816 E.T.A. Hoffman novella, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Starring roles include Clara’s Uncle, the eccentric toymaker-cum-magician; a Nutcracker doll which springs to life alongside an army of toy soldiers; a bellicose Mouse King; and a Sugar Plum Fairy, who dances to a tinkling melody you might recognise from a childhood clockwork jewellery-box.

It is a tune that Alexander Campbell knows well, having danced to it on the Royal Opera House stage as the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Prince.

Earlier this year, Mr Campbell retired from the Royal Ballet, but he’s excited about his new position as Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Dance. 

He spoke about the adult Nutcracker repertoire workshop being offered at the RAD HQ in Wandsworth.

He said: “People will either be going to see it, or they have seen it and want to learn more about it.

“It just seems like a really good opportunity for us to provide that more in-depth exploration of what the piece is, and then people can have a go at it themselves.”

Mr Campbell was born in Australia and first danced at Academy Ballet, Sydney. Aged 11, he moved to London, when the prestigious Royal Ballet school offered him a place for full-time Training.

His professional career is itself something out of a fairytale.

After graduating, he was straight to the Birmingham Royal Ballet and four years later, left for the Royal Ballet, where he quickly worked his way up to the top spot of Principal.

Mr Campbell’s first experience dancing in the Nutcracker was with the Australian Ballet in a performance choreographed by Graeme Murphy.

“It was an Australian version”, he said, “so we were running around in the beginning playing some sort of ball sport.

“I loved it, it was great to be on stage and feel like you were part of a professional company”.

But it was only when he came to the UK, that he began to understand what he calls “the cultural importance of Nutcracker.”

He said:  “These stories of grandmothers taking their grandchildren for the first time and introducing them to ballet – because that’s what happened to them at a young age. Amazing.

“It’s very much part of a lot of people’s Christmas celebrations. It feels like the beginning of Christmas, which I think is fantastic – I fully bought into that.”

Mr Campbell has danced his way through various roles in the ballet: he mentions the Nutcracker, an escort or cavalier in the waltz of the flowers and most recently, the Prince.

“That’s quite a few different roles”, he noted, “and what’s really interesting about that, is you get a different perspective on what’s happening at different times throughout the production.”

The role of the Prince is reserved for principals and presents particular challenges.

In productions Mr Campbell has been involved with, particularly the Royal Ballet (Sir Peter Wright) version, the Prince first comes on in Act II which builds towards his dance with the Sugar Plum Fairy – the Grands Pas de Deux.

He said: “Everyone else has done the work, they’ve stepped you up, you’re ready to go and then you and the Sugar Plum Fairy – that’s what everyone’s waiting for, that’s the climax of the ballet.

“You want to continue that upward trajectory, after all the work that everyone else has done to get there – it’s quite pressurised.

“You don’t have a lot of stage time beforehand to acclimatise. You come out, and you have one thing to do. It’s the high point of the ballet, everyone’s waiting for it – everyone knows the music.”

One thing that did help was thinking about the performance from an audience perspective, Mr Campbell said.

He said: “They’re there because they really want to be, and they really want it to be good.

“Remembering how much of a highlight the Grands Pas is as an audience member.

“How exciting that is and, really, that the audience is desperate for it to be good.”

You can find out more about the workshop here: https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/event/the-nutcracker-adult-repertoire-workshop/

Pictured top: Alexander Campbell (Picture: Royal Academy of Dance)