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Nutcracker Study Guide
Students may wish to pursue any of these activities as a class, on their own, or with their parents. Teachers whose students watch George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ may wish to collaborate with other teachers in their schools to create an interdisciplinary approach to studying the ballet.
History/Social Studies
- Study holiday traditions around the world, past and present, discussing the party scene in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ as an example of a German Christmas celebration in the 18th century, and a trip to see The Nutcracker as a modern holiday tradition in America.
- Study the history of The Nutcracker ballet and how it came to be a holiday favorite. Resources to consult include ballet history books, dance magazines, and encyclopedias.
- Study the biographies of people involved with The Nutcracker, either the original or New York City Ballet’s production.
Language Arts
- Study the story of The Nutcracker as a fairy tale - read the original E.T.A. Hoffman tale, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the Alexander Dumas père version from which the ballet’s original libretto was arranged, “The Nutcracker of Nuremberg,” and various modern stories of the ballet. Discuss the similarities and differences between the tales. Consider the many ways popular stories or folk/fairy tales are retold: The Nutcracker has been presented in writing, in artwork, in music, and in dance. Compare The Nutcracker with other popular tales that have been retold in many ways, such as Romeo and Juliet and The Beauty and the Beast. Discuss the ways the various presentations of these stories are faithful to the original versions and the new dimensions they add.
- Write your own version of The Nutcracker story that begins in your neighborhood in the year 2001 (or any other time and place you choose).
- Learn any vocabulary words in The Nutcacker story or in the information about ballet included here that are new to you. Try using these words in your own writing and conversation.
- Write a review of the ballet after seeing it live or on video. The discussion questions provided may help guide your writing.
- Write your own creative stories related to a theme from The Nutcracker, such as a journey to an imaginary land, a conflict or fight, or a holiday celebration.
Music
- Study orchestral instruments and listen for them in a recording of Tschaikovsky’s score. Discuss the ways that the different instruments help to characterize the moods of the various dances in Act II.
- Study different rhythms used in the music for The Nutcracker, such as the waltz and the march. Identify these sections in a recording of the music - listen and clap along!
- Study Tschaikovsky’s biography and his role in music history. Learn which other composers influenced him, and how he became an important ballet composer. Listen to music from his other famous ballets, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, as well as his concert music. Compare and contrast these works to The Nutcracker.
Art
- Compare and contrast various storybook illustrations of The Nutcracker and photographs of the sets and costumes for different productions of the ballet. Which do you think are most effective and why? (You may want to look for Maurice Sendak’s illustrations of the Hoffman tale and his designs for the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production.)
- Imagine you could create your own production of The Nutcracker that would take place in any time period you choose–past, present, or future. What type of scenery and costumes would you use for your production of the ballet? Draw pictures or create dioramas and paper dolls of your designs.
- Look carefully at a video or performance photos of The Nutcracker; find shapes and lines (circles, rectangles, triangles, diagonals, zigzags) in the scenery, costumes, and dance movements. (For example, there are lots of circles in the ballet: the face of the grandfather clock is a circle, the tutus are shaped like circles, Marie and the Prince walk towards the Christmas Star in a circle of light from a spotlight, the snowflake dancers gather together in a circle, the Candy Canes dance with circular hoops, and the Sugarplum Fairy rounds her arms overhead in the shape of a circle.)
- Study how costumes are constructed and what makes them different from regular clothes. Discuss the special things that ballet costume designers have to remember in order to make costumes that are comfortable for the dancers and enhance the performance. (For example, the costumes need to be able to fit different dancers in case of casting changes. Male dancers particularly need great mobility in the shoulders of their costumes so they can lift the women up over their heads without ripping any seams, and the costumes need to allow the dancers to lift their legs up very high.)
Math
- Create and solve word problems based on The Nutcracker story or the statistics found in the Nutcracker Fun Facts page. (For example, “The Mouse King had seven crowns until the Prince cut one off. How many were left?” or “If the snowflake confetti comes in 10-pound bags, how many bags should the stagehands use if they need 50 pounds of snow for the performance?”)
Science
- Study any of the elements of nature or animals represented in the ballet, such as snow, evergreen trees, mice, stars, flowers, or reindeer.
- Study the science involved in stagecraft. For example, how does the electricity in the stage lights work? How does the pulley system for the scenery work? How do the fog machines work?
- Study the concepts of physics involved in ballet dancing and partnering. (Learn how gravity affects ballet dancers’ jumps or something much more complex!) Resources on this topic include The Physics of Dance by Kenneth Laws (out of print), and Physics, Dance, and the Pas de Deux by Kenneth Laws, Martha Swope (photographer), and Cynthia Harvey (contributor).
Cooking
- Learn what some of the sweets represented in Act II are made of, such as marzipan and sugar plums. Try making them! A sample recipe for sugar plums is listed below.
Sugar Plums: (from Saveur magazine)
Makes 75
Sugar plums tend to absorb the powdered sugar, so redust just before eating, if you like.
2 cups whole almonds
¼ cup honey
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground allspice
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup finely chopped pitted dates
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- Preheat oven to 400°. Arrange almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool, then finely chop.
- Meanwhile, combine honey, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Add almonds, apricots, and dates and mix well.
- Pinch off rounded teaspoon-size pieces of the mixture and roll into balls. (Rinse your hands often, as mixture is very sticky.) Roll balls in sugar, then refrigerate in single layers between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers for up to 1 month. Their flavor improves after ripening for several days.
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