Joseph Brewer

Dance Concert Analysis

Synchronized Energy of Molly Mouses Sugar Plum Debut
There is a lot of talent that is showcased from the Wasatch Youth Ballet Company. The
December 2nd showing of Molly Mouses Sugar Plum Debut in Salt Lake City at the Childrens
Ballet Theater was surprisingly creative both in costume and choreography. Overall it was a
rendition of the famous Nutcracker Ballet with its own twist.
The first dance for my analysis is the section titled The Rehearsal. During this
performance, the ballet performers in the story are practicing for an upcoming performance of
the nutcracker. The top performer injures herself and molly gets the chance to take the lead as
everyone else celebrates. The element that stuck out the most to me about this performance was
the coordination and synchronization all the dancers had. There were a very large amount of
people on the floor during this dance and they were performing jetes, Chaines, pirouettes, and
many other ballet moves without bumping into anyone else. This in effect gave the dance a
feeling of order and perfection. At the beginning of the dance the performers start out slowly
moving in synch performing warm up moves. The characters then start to practice their moves
for the nutcracker and everyone starts to add more complex moves to their dancing while all
remain in perfect synchronization, this gave the feeling of harmony that all was going well with
the characters as they get ready for their performance. Then the main lead injures herself, at this
point the dance changes from graceful movements to frantic and sharp movements which add
chaos and anxiety to the feeling of the performance. One element that added to this was that the
character shook their heads back and forth and shaked their fists. The dancers still were in sync

with each other but their movements they used created a feeling of conflict. At this point Molly
steps up and takes the lead role and all the characters change their movements from frantic and
chaotic to huge energy and excitement. The movements like the rond de jambes and the panches
were big. There was lots of movement compared to the previous mentioned dances. The
characters were not as stationary and they moved around a lot more, this gave a sense of great
energy and joy that pulled you out of your seat. I felt as if I wanted to dance along and run
around with them. After this excitement the main dancer Molly dances around with her own
movements separate from what the rest of the group is doing, her movements and very fast and
since all of the group is dancing one way and she is dancing another this gives the character a
sense of individuality and leadership that she has in the storyline.
The second dance I am going to analyze is a couple of the dancing segments from the
section A Sugar Plum Fantasy. In this part of the ballet, Molly dreams that she is in a magical
place and that she is the sugar plum fairy. She is offered gifts by different groups and as these
gifts are offered they dance and perform for her. In the dance of the Ice Cream Princess, the ice
cream princess uses rhythmic ballet movements and lots of aerial moves. During this dance the
ice cream princess is one her tip toes most of the time and this gives her the appearance that she
is floating. Her rhythmic and swaying movements make her appear as if she is gliding smoothly
in harmony across the floor. Another dance that stood out to me during this segment was the
dance of the Russian Peppermints; these characters used lots of kicks and panches. Their
movement was very quick and sharp and unlike many of the dances where the characters would
turn their upper bodies slowly and with a rhythmic flow,; these dancers moved their upper bodies
quickly back and forth several times this added to the fast pace of the music that was playing.
This combination of synchronized rapid kicks, sharp upper body movements and faced paced

music gave the audience energy and added to the excitement of the dance. These dancers were
very clear in their movements and had different actions for differences heard in the music. On
certain distinct sounds in the music they would move from high Releves to plie grandes. In other
distinct parts of the music there would be lots of kicks and little movement in the arms while
other distinct musical parts there would be lots of movement in both the arms and legs. Lastly the
Gingerbread Men dance was probably the most different in movement compared to the other
dances. In this dance the characters hardly moved their arms or legs, moreover their joints of
their knees and elbows hardly bent at all. Overall their movement was very limited and not very
rhythmic, this added to their character of being gingerbread men.
Overall there was a lot of variety in the performance; it was very interesting to see that a
lot of the moves throughout the ballet were just a combination of basic ballet but because of the
way the movements were executed and the rhythm that they were executed added lots of
diversity and difference to each individual dance. There were also several elements that added to
the feeling of the performance such as the costumes, everyone dance with a mouse head on. The
props and scenery were very festive and added to the Christmas magic. The biggest contributor
to the dance was of course the music, since it was very famous music from the Nutcracker
Ballet; the dances immediately connected to the audience to give a feeling of nostalgia and
Christmas spirit and magic!