Dancing Drosselmeier

ROBERT LA FOSSE: I essentially learned the role from Shaun O'Brien [originator of Dr. Coppélius, who danced Drosselmeier for 30 years], and Andrei Kramarevsky [an SAB teacher who performed Drosselmeier as a guest artist] and [former Principal Dancer] Leonid Kozlov were also doing it at the time. But it was really Bart Cook's interpretation in the [1993] movie that had a profound effect on me. I thought Bart brought in a connection to the ETA Hoffmann story, which I reread for the way Drosselmeier looked, his relationship to the family, and to make it my own. 

I asked a company member who was good at making prosthetic noses, [former NYCB Dancer Benjamin G.] Bowman, to make me a nose that looked like Balanchine's, which had this funny little hook, like a bird hook. The Hoffmann tale talks about Drosselmeier’s hair being silvery and kind of white, like “spun glass.” I was also inspired in part by this guy I’d seen on the subway with no hair in the front and white hair in the back, in a ponytail; I wanted Drosselmeier’s hairline to be receding, and I wanted to be able to let the hair down when he’s on the clock so that you could tell that he’s gone from reality to fantasy. 

That Times review mentions that I’d incorporated an injured leg, which I’d forgotten. I’d thought to myself, why does he have an eye patch? Maybe he had an accident in the workshop. He poked himself in the eye, and maybe he fell down, which gave him a limp. I even added a little pouch to my stomach to make him look a little older; I was in my 30s, so probably too young, really, to do the role, but I was doing everything I could to make his physicality different from my own. 

Eventually, as the time goes on, you morph, you change. You get other ideas. Some years I played him more elegantly; sometimes he was a more joyful character. I'm always exploring. [In 2016], my hat became more straight up and down—it used to be crooked. That influenced how I would do the character as well. In the beginning, as dancers, we are influenced by who came before us. Eventually you find what you want to say about the character. 

HARRISON COLL: My first time dancing onstage was in New York City Ballet's production of Nutcracker. I started as a kid in the production, just a party scene boy, and I remember Drosselmeier had such a powerful effect on me. It was the moment when I didn't feel like I was onstage anymore, like Drosselmeier was my show. And each night, it was different. Back then, it was you, Kramarevsky, and [former Soloist and current SAB Faculty Member] Adam Hendrickson. I felt like the role was so important for immersing everyone in the action of the story. 

Years later, my good friend David Prottas, who was doing Drosselmeier, was retiring. In my head, I put two and two together—“There's an opening.” So I went to [Repertory Director] Lisa Jackson, and I said, “Listen, I know there may be an opening for Drosselmeier, and you might not be expecting this, but I would love to show you how I would interpret it and give it a go.” I think I was 24, 25 at the time. So I had a couple of rehearsals, and she seemed to believe me. And then Peter Martins saw me onstage, and he called a rehearsal for just the two of us, which was so crazy to see on the rehearsal schedule—“Coll / Martins”—because I wasn't expecting him to take that kind of interest in the part. We walked through it step by step, and he gave me some advice on how to better “look the part.” 

I had to change my body language and work on my walk. Whether it's the Prince, mice, or Drosselmeier, the walk is the hardest thing to develop and to cultivate. But once you have that, then everything can kind of come from there. When I was sitting in the makeup chair and it all came together on my face the first time, all of a sudden, I was moving around like Drosselmeier backstage, so that when I took the stage, it wasn't a major transformation for me—I was already embodying it. And that still happens to me. As soon as I get the makeup on, I start falling into character.

Now, I'm thinking, “How can I make it unexpected for myself?” I don't want the children to know what I'm going to do, because then I don't think they're as animated and “in” the story, so I like to change it a little bit every time. I think that's more genuine for me. I'm thinking more about each little detail now. It's nice as you do it year after year, you can pull more and more into the character. 

LA FOSSE: I think I've explored almost everything I can about the role. I try not to plan too much these days, I just go in and see where it's going to take me. That's the fun part about being in a character role; it's choreographed, so you have things that you have to do, but beyond that there’s freedom. One thing we do know about Balanchine, through seeing the magnitude of alterations he gave to different dancers, is that he was interested in bringing out the dancer’s individual totality, in celebrating their individuality. So he probably would have allowed me to explore what I'm exploring. 

LA FOSSE: As a teenager, I didn't really know where I was going to land as an artist. I had done musical theater when I was a kid. When I came to New York, I was studying ballet and just landed at American Ballet Theatre—they needed a boy, and I auditioned, and I got in. And two years later, I was asked to dance on Broadway. So I was already doing this back and forth. And when I joined NYCB, Jerry asked me to be in his show Jerome Robbins Broadway. I was always sort of acting in the roles that I got, like Fancy Free and Prodigal Son; it was in my nature. I wasn't really a 100% classical dancer, although I did a lot of classical roles. It's what I am good at, for lack of better words.

COLL: When I was first dancing in Nutcracker, I only knew you as Drosselmeier, because I never saw you after the party scene, or coming out of or getting into makeup. All I knew you as was Drosselmeier for years, and that speaks to the artist that you are, that your transformation is so authentic and genuine and believable, and fun and fresh every time. 

I do idolize you in terms of the character roles—I’ve followed in your footsteps. I've done Fancy Free, I got to do Dr. Coppélius recently, and I've been able to talk to you about all those different roles and what they mean. And you’ve given me some guidance and words of wisdom—who to watch, what to read, how to do the research, things like that. But I also come from a musical theater background. Both of my parents were on Broadway—my father was in Gypsy with Ethel Merman, and I grew up in New York, seeing shows. When I got into the School [of American Ballet], I couldn't do just the tendus and the jetés and the pliés, it wasn’t holding my attention. For me, it was about getting to Nutcracker; that’s what I was waiting for and why I wanted to keep dancing. I'm addicted to performance. 

LA FOSSE: The answer to, “Why do I keep coming back to it?” is really the children, and seeing what we experienced when we were that age—that wonderment. This is a new thing for them, getting to perform in this capacity, getting to perform on any stage. I don't think New York kids realize the magnitude of it. I come from a little town in Texas, and for me, it didn't matter that it was a little town in Texas; my dream was coming true, I was getting to perform in front of an audience, which was something I wanted to do at birth. So it's that element that keeps me coming back, and wanting to make this an experience for them, because, in the scene, you're basically there for them. 

I travel now, staging ballets for the Jerome Robbins Foundation, and there are ex-Princes and ex-Fritzes in different companies that come up to me and say, “You were my first Drosselmeier.” It just gives me complete joy. Sometimes when it's cold, the hardest part about doing the role is getting to the theater. I really enjoy it once I'm here. I enjoy putting on my own makeup and making the transformation happen. That’s the reason I keep doing it. I love watching that growth. 

COLL: I want to keep doing it for the kids as well. I wanted to become a dancer because I got to see not just Drosselmeier, but all of the dancers backstage, warming up, and they became my heroes. And if I can get a kid to stay in the School of American Ballet for one more year, it's another year where they might fall more in love with the art form. 

I see Nutcracker all around the country as one of the main recruiting ballets for the next generation, so I feel like it's a very important role to continue to develop, and to have fun and be inspiring, just as much as Tea or Candy Cane. Each person in the audience can resonate differently with each role. 

LA FOSSE: The costume kind of represents what we do at City Ballet; we learn the roles from people who either did it or have the responsibility of teaching you the steps, and we have the responsibility of trying to understand what the choreographer wanted. I think we all discover new things over a period of time. It's the nature of a ballet—it's handed down over the years. So we stand on the shoulders of all these great artists that came before us. 

COLL: When I first put the costume on, I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. And I did think about the pedigree and the people who have done it. Not a lot of people have had the chance to portray Drosselmeier. There have been a lot of Mother Gingers and Cavaliers and Candy Canes, but when it comes to Drosselemeier, you can actually go through, name by name. 

Everything in my life has essentially revolved around Balanchine’s legacy. It's how I tapped into the Robbins legacy and found a home in that choreography, it's connected me to Justin Peck's choreography. When I do this role, I feel like I’m giving thanks to Balanchine, because I don't know how to step into his world in any other way.

_{Header photo of Robert La Fosse and Harrison Coll and photo of La Fosse © Paul Kolnik. Photo of Coll © Erin Baiano.}