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Scottish Ballet blends The Nutcracker and The Snow Queen in an hour-long film full of twinkle and charm
This year has been a test of creativity and nerve for the dance sector (and everybody else), with Christmas its crunch point. Most of the big ballet companies risked putting on a live Nutcracker show, only to have the plug pulled, devastatingly, just before or soon after opening night. Scottish Ballet decided to take a different route, creating an hour-long film that captures ballet’s festive twinkle and fairytale charm in screen-savvy manner.
Devised by dancers turned film-makers Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple (AKA Jess and Morgs), along with designer Lez Brotherston and Scottish Ballet’s artistic director, Christopher Hampson, what’s clever about it is they don’t stray too far from what they know. It’s set in a theatre, for a start. A boy (Leo Tetteh) kicking his football around the city streets wanders into an empty auditorium and encounters characters from Scottish Ballet’s two Christmas shows – Hampson’s Snow Queen and Peter Darrell’s Nutcracker – repurposed into a new, lightweight but still effective narrative. It has the feel of a ballet but the scenes are orchestrated for a roving camera rather than a fixed audience, and there’s a touch of The Greatest Showman in its vintage circus look and editing effects.