There are stories so ironclad that you cannot change them, adapt them, interpret them, retranslate them or anything else. One such story is that of the endlessly successful ballet The Nutcracker.
At the Koninklijk Circus, the audience wished, as always and everywhere, to be swept along in the special dream full of surprises with a cheerful family during Christmas night with a grandfather who looked a bit too deep into his glass, skipping children, dancing family members, a magician, a doll - THE doll The Nutcracker - tin soldiers come to life, soldiers on hobby horses, a battle of the mice, dancing snowflakes, exotic dancers from Spain, Arabia, China, Russia and then perhaps the most beautiful and emotionally most special pas de deux from the entire ballet repertoire. This pas de deux is presumably not the love story between her and him, but from the hidden life of the composer: a dance of two men who love each other. It does not come to the surface, yet the music betrays at the very least that suppressed desire.
Except for the magician and a few exotic, successful scenes - the Chinese and the Arabs: very skillfully and originally done, and pleasant snowflakes - nothing came of the story. No family, no drunken grandfather, no tin soldiers, a lamentably simplified pas de deux and repetitive silly jumps and arm-waving from beginning to end. Where were the tutus? Where were the pointed ballet slippers? Where were the children and the hobby horses? Not to mention the posture of the hands alone, the equality, the harmony in the movements... And the music, with all its repetitions stripped out, was played too sharply, which eventually caused almost pain in the ears.
The choreographer of the dance group, focused on contemporary dance, does not have classical ballet and everything that comes with it in their fingers. Why insist on bringing things that are not your strength? Modern dance attracts less audience, but what this strict reviewer wishes to impart as a wise lesson is this: "Shoemaker, stick to your last". Given the otherwise good performances of the dancers, one can assume that this company deserves a place in more modern dance.