Why The Nutcracker?
Clara is given an enchanted Nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. As midnight strikes, she creeps downstairs to find a magical adventure awaiting her and her Nutcracker. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Ballet 2016.
In the opening scene of my next book in The Resistance Girl Series, The Crystal Butterfly, we meet the Dutch ballerina Edda Van der Valk as she prepares herself to dance Clara in The Nutcracker in December 1938.
At the end of The Crystal Butterfly in 1946, we’ll return to a performance of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet. But why The Nutcracker? Why not Swan Lake, or Gisele, or Romeo and Juliet? The Nutcracker’s theme is perfect for the dreamlike Edda Van der Valk. But let’s first look at the story of The Nutcracker.
In a nutshell: The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was first presented at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 18, 1892. The story takes place on Christmas Eve. The Stahlbaum family is celebrating the holiday with their daughter Marie (in the ballet she is called Clara), her brother Fritz, her godfather Drosselmeyer, and other family friends. Drosselmeyer surprises the party with a nutcracker doll, a gift for Clara.
That night, Clara has a dream in which the Nutcracker comes to life and battles with the Mouse King. The Nutcracker defeats the Mouse King with Clara’s help and turns into a handsome prince. He takes her on a magical journey to the Land of Sweets, where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and are entertained by various sweets from different nations. The Prince and Clara return home at the end of the night and Clara wakes up to find that the Nutcracker is back to being a toy. But she still fondly remembers the magical journey they took together.
The Nutcracker ballet is one of the most well-loved and popular ballets of all time because of Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music, the incredible choreography, and the magical story. The story of a little girl and her journey to the Land of Sweets, where she meets her beautiful Prince is the sublimation of a fairy tale. The Nutcracker also brings the Christmas season to life with its festive themes and has become a holiday tradition for many families. All happiness and festivity.
So much about the background of The Nutcracker story.
What is the ballet’s function in my WW2 novel about a young girl helping Jewish fugitives in Amsterdam during WW2?
Edda is a dreamer, a dancer, a girl who wants to shut her eyes to the world around her, her Nazi parents and the threat of war. She only wants to dance, and preferably with her boyfriend Asher Hoffmann. But real life is harsh and unyeilding: a battle of light and darkness, of the Nutcracker against the Mouse King, of good against evil, of art against reality. Edda roughly awakens from her dream life when her beloved Prince is taken from her by the Gestapo.
Will she herself even survive? Let alone hold on to her precious Christmas gift? A crystal butterfly made by Asher?
The Crystal Butterfly is inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s ‘dance through WW2’ in Holland.
The book is now on preorder and will release on 6 June.
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