Discover Walla Walla

As the crowd hummed with excitement, moments before the wine colored curtain of Cordiner Hall lifted, it was strikingly apparent that this was not just another Symphony event in Walla Walla. The bi-annual production of the Nutcracker Suite by the Walla Walla Orchestra and the Eugene Ballet far transcends the parameters of a night at the symphony.

It is a night that is cherished by families throughout the community, for it is a Christmas tradition. At the Walla Walla Nutcracker performance, instead of limos arriving with well dressed couples, vans doors slide open as every member of the family from grandparents to great grandchildren spill out in their Sunday best. Groups of 8 or 10 enter together, with the little ones trying to scurry ahead in their excitement.

The Nutcracker Suite is a night for elders to savor the music and dance that has brightened their holiday season for a lifetime while relaying to their young descendants the first time they saw the Nutcracker. Little girls, some only three years old, romping in their holiday dresses, squirmed in their seats and asked a million questions about "what was this and what was that?"

Fledgling local dancers were part of the cast and proud relatives nervously awaited their time on stage. The Walla Walla high school Treble Ensemble provided an airy accompaniment to the Snow Kingdom dance. Within the professional fabric of the Walla Walla Symphony and the Eugene Ballet, this insertion of local performers, even down to the little ones who played the role of the lady bugs and mice, gave the production just the right touch of a home town feel.

The Eugene ballet did a masterful job of capturing the grandness of Tchaikovsky's creation, with an abundance of dancers filling the stage along with large colorful props. The opening Grunewald Family dance was a feast for the eyes, as the women in the brilliantly colored billowy skirts whirled and twirled with their dapper partners, effortlessly navigating the intersecting choreography.

As the performance moved along, one became aware that the Eugene Ballet is not the American Ballet Company, for there was definitely a drop-off from the number one featured dancers and their secondary counterparts.

Yun-Kyung Kim adeptly filled her role as Clara. Slight and delicate even for a ballerina, Yun-Kyung seemed to coast along the stage as she effortlessly glided through each dance.

Her partner, Juan Carlos, Hans, was competent but not spectacular. The pair that brought the biggest smiles to the audience and evoked the loudest applause was Gillmer Duran and Yoshie Oshima as they masterfully performed as Prince Alladin and Princess Jasmine. Duran tenderly guided Oshima through their interlacing movements and graceful lifts, as they exuded a palpable smoldering flame of passion.

The Eugene Ballet's version of the Nutcracker is not an athletic one, but rather, a display of grace, rich colors and fast, connected movement -- but for one dance, that of the Trepak Dancers.  And the lads did not disappoint. Not only did they easily complete all of the leap frogs and tumbling maneuvers but they danced in sync better than any multiple group.

The night ended with a mesmerizing performance by Victoria Harvey as Harlequinades. Although Harvey is particularly long and tall for a ballerina, she maintained her lines to perfection; never a twitch, never the slightest bend, straight as an arrow, and all as if one moving part.

Her footwork was impeccable and it appeared as if she were swimming with the music as she moved perfectly to each of its twists and turns.

As the performance was coming to an end, I had almost lost awareness of the orchestra, even though they were not hidden in a pit but right before our eyes just below the stage. Why? Because they played so flawlessly that one almost felt as if the music were coming from a high fidelity recording. The players moved the ballet along so seamlessly that you'd have thought they'd practiced for months on end. Truth be told, they only rehearsed together a few times, which makes the quality of the entire performance that much more remarkable.

Hat's off to Maestro Yaacov Bergman and his versatile musicians.

A smile came to my face as the lights brightened and the dancers had taken their final bows, for a small girl, who had sat behind me the entire performance, her mother constantly begging her to not pull up her velvet, burgundy Christmas dress, exclaimed, "Mommy, can we see it again! Can we see it again?"

Now, that's what the Nutcracker Suite is all about.