The Hard Nut

Dance On Film ~ The Hard Nut

Monday, December 9, 2013 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
  • Library Hall

Mark Morris Dance Group's modern take on "The Nutcracker."

"The Hard Nut" World Premiere: January 12, 1991, in  Brussels, Belgium
Choreographed by Mark Morris
Composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker, op.71
Production based on the work of Charles Burns Based on the book by E.T.A. Hoffmann, "Nutcracker and the Mouse King"

About the film
This performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group provides the viewer with a fresh look at Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Part of the Great Performances series from PBS, this innovative, iconoclastic adaptation of the Christmas favorite features dancers in nontraditional costumes. Flapper dresses, go-go boots, leather, and hip huggers are some of the styles worn by the performers on the minimalist set. Gone are the toy soldiers, and in their place are Barbie dolls and G.I. Joe lookalikes. The production takes its inspiration from the source book by E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The beloved music of Tchaikovsky remains the constant in this otherwise distinctively contemporary take on a Christmas classic.

The Hard Facts

  •     The Hard Nut was the last of 12 pieces Mark Morris choreographed in Brussels, his most ambitious work to date.
  •     The Hard Nut has been seen in 6 cities (3 countries)
  •     The production includes 116 costume changes
  •     The entire Tchaikovsky score is performed with a 48-member orchestra and children's choir of 30
  •     There are over 60 set pieces and props
  •     Wardrobe includes 30 wigs
  •     48 members in the stage crew, including wardrobe dressers/hair and make-up artists, keep the show running smoothly
  •     There are 32 dancers in the show
  •     22 dancers are in in the Waltz of the Snowflakes throwing 20 lbs. of confetti per show

Run time: 90 min.

The Dance on Film series is presented by the Bud Werner Memorial Library, Perry-Mansfield and Steamboat Dance Theatre. The free screening includes an introduction by dance history professor and Perry-Mansfield Executive Director Joan Lazarus.

Joan Lazarus

About the film's commentator
Joan Lazarus served as Executive Director of Oakland Ballet, General Manger of Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center, and Executive Director of WestWave Dance, an annual festival of new choreography presented in San Francisco. Joan has performed with or in the works of Alonzo King, Cliff Keuter, Ellen Bromberg, Victoria Morgan, Krissy Keefer, Frank Shawl, Bill DeYoung, Toni Pimble, Richard Colton and Alan Ptashek. She taught at the University of Oregon, Mills College, San Francisco Ballet, Dance Circle of Boston, The Princeton Ballet, RoCo Dance & Fitness, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and co-authored the Dance Curriculum Guide adopted by the San Francisco Unified School District. She received Bay Area National Dance Week’s Contribution to the Field of Dance Award in 2006, and in 2012 she received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Sustained Achievement. Lazarus was named 2011 Dance MVP by the San Francisco Chronicle. Joan joined the staff at Perry-Mansfield in June 2012.

About Dance On Film

This 2013 Dance On Film series is presented by Bud Werner Memorial Library, Perry-Mansfield and Steamboat Dance Theatre. Perry-Mansfield celebrates its 100th anniversary as the oldest continuously operating arts camp in the United States this year. Steamboat Dance Theatre is a community dance organization presenting its 42nd annual concert March 20-22, 2014, in addition to year-round dance scholarships and education programs in Yampa Valley schools and throughout the community. This collaborative and educational dance film series features free screenings of the hottest new dance documentaries along with the finest classic dance films from a variety of genres filmed throughout the ages.