Nut/Cracked, performed by The Bang Group at Kaatsbaan in Tivoli, New York, this Friday and Saturday, is a smart, funny reimagining of The Nutcracker that draws not only on familiar musical references but also on the choreographic legacy of productions by the Boston Ballet and New York City Ballet. Premiered in 2003, the work has evolved over more than two decades, expanding through changing casts while retaining its essential architecture. Built from 21 short dances, each one to six minutes long and defined by action, rhythm, and often a single prop, Nut/Cracked moves easily between classical ballet, contemporary dance, tap, and disco.
Rather than parodying The Nutcracker, choreographer David Parker reimagines it from the inside out. Music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite appears alongside Duke Ellington’s jazz arrangements and Glenn Miller and his big band orchestra, reordered and reframed. The longest sections correspond to those audiences know best - the "Grand Pas de Deux", the "Waltz of the Snowflakes", and the "Waltz of the Flowers" - while shorter dances unfold in swift succession, propelled by invention and affection.
The Bang Group, founded in 1995 by Parker, and dancer and muse Jeff Kazin, has long been known for work that blends rigor with wit. Nut/Cracked remains its most enduring expression. Kazin describes the piece as shaped by the personalities, obsessions, and the physical intelligence of the dancers. While the structure of the work stays intact, its energy shifts from season to season as material is passed on, retooled, or relinquished.
Several longtime performers speak of sections that feel inseparable from their identities as dancers. One delights in the “Flowers” section, where complex counting and astonishing patterns build toward a moment of collective unison so satisfying it borders on euphoric. Another recalls the joy and exhaustion of the “March” where syncopation and interaction keep the dancers in constant negotiation. Others speak fondly of sections they no longer perform such as “Russian Disco” and “Fan Dance” and describe the bittersweet process of watching those roles migrate to younger bodies.
One dancer describes the final pas de deux, “Thumbs”, in which the performers suck each other’s thumbs, a gesture that provokes laughter and discomfort in equal measure. It slyly exposes an undercurrent of desire and repulsion that has always existed beneath The Nutcracker’s child-friendly surface and is given free rein in Nut/Cracked. The moment is stomach-turning, eyebrow-raising, and irresistibly funny (feral rather than ironic), tapping into a child’s appetite for what adults learn to suppress.
Elsewhere, humor operates through restraint as much as excess. In the “Bubble Wrap” section, one performer delays the inevitable pop, stretching the audience’s anticipation and suspense. In the “Rose” trio, dancers pass a flower mouth-to-mouth in a confined space, negotiating balance, timing, and absurd intimacy en pointe. In “Snow”, the full company swirls together to crashing cymbals, producing an image of collective awe. Performers describe the cast as “entirely soloists,” meaning each dancer's distinctive personality and individuality are visible even in unison.
What ultimately distinguishes Nut/Cracked is not nostalgia, parody, or even cleverness, but its refusal to condescend - to children, to tradition, or to the body’s messier pleasures. After more than 20 years, the piece continues to feel alive, elastic, and current. It holds tradition lightly, and that lightness feels quietly radical.
Catherine Tharin is a choreographer, writer, curator, and educator. Her writing on dance has appeared in The Dance Enthusiast, Interlocutor, Side of Culture, and the Boston Globe. Tharin currently curates The Dance Series at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, NY, and dance film at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY. Throughout her career, she has championed both innovative and legacy choreography, supported the work of artists across the field, and brought critical attention to the art form. Her latest dance, In the Wake of Yes, was noted as "powerfully animated, positively fizzy, full of droll wit" (Fjord), “The piece blended dance, art, and language into a layered meditation on love and emotional vulnerability." (Eye on Dance).
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
