A scene from a rehearsal for Dance Arts Los Alamos’ Sugar Plum on the Hill. Courtesy/DALA
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Apparently when Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker premiered in 1892, it wasn’t well received. Oh, how the tables have turned.
Nowadays, it seems the holiday ballet is the figurehead for the whole art form. And who isn’t aware of the music for the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance?
In short; the Nutcracker is incredibly popular; it is a ballet that has been told and retold and retold and retold.
Even locally, Dance Arts Los Alamos (DALA) has a long history of presenting the classic ballet every Winterfest. Then, DALA Artistic Director Jonathan Guise began to mix things up. In 2015, he premiered Nutcracker on the Hill, the first installment of a trilogy that incorporates both the classic fairy tale-like ballet and local history. In 2021, the sequel, Ratcracker on the Hill premiered. Now, the final chapter, Sugar Plum on the Hill will open Friday.
If you been following the story, it’s 1944 in Los Alamos. The Manhattan Project is in full swing and Oppenheimer and Gen. Groves are having a Christmas party. What occurs at this party is espionage, a journey to the Land of Sweets and an epic battle between good and evil. Want to see how this battle concludes? You should, because Sugar Plum on the Hill is a brilliant finale.
Aesthetically, it is lovely. While ‘Sugar Plum’ features new sets for the second act, it was lovely to see DALA’s beautiful backdrop of Fuller Lodge’s Pajarito Room in the first act and that iconic Christmas tree, twinkling in the dark auditorium. The costumes are gorgeous. I particularly loved the rugged sweater vests and khaki shorts worn by the Los Alamos Ranch School and Santa Fe School hockey players in the opening scene.
Of course, the dancing is wonderful. Guise choreographed all the three ballets and in the prologue to the ballet, it is revealed that more than 100 hours of choreography has been done during the course of all three chapters. His work has paid off. All the dancers are wonderful but Allyson Harbet is a standout as Gwen Groves. Other notable performers are Jadie Gonzales as the Rat Queen and even Guise shows off his dancing skills and comedic stunt work as the spy.
Perhaps the real stage stealers are the younger dancers who take the roles of mice and toy soldiers. Major kudos to Todd Haagenstad who is reprising his role at Oppenheimer. He doesn’t perform any ballet but I loved his humor and how he continuously broke up the fights first between to hockey teams and then between the Rat Queen and Nutcracker Princess as if to say – “come on, let’s all get along.” It’s a message I think we could all stand to hear.
Not only did Guise choreograph all three ballets but he wrote the stories, too. He cleverly wove in actual bits of Los Alamos history with the help of Los Alamos Historical Society and his efforts earned Nutcracker on the Hill the Dorothy Woodward New Mexico Historical Society Award for historical excellence.
It is really enjoyable to see a ballet that has such popularity on an international scale be remolded specifically for Los Alamos. By presenting Sugar Plum on the Hill, DALA is giving a true gift to the community this holiday season.
DALA’s Sugar Plum on the Hill will be held 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Duane Smith Auditorium.
Tickets for Sugar Plum on the Hill are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Children 3 and younger will be admitted for free. Tickets can be purchased at the door or through DALA, Village Arts, Little Studio on the Mesa and Los Alamos Historical Society.