This article has been amended.
There was a time when she didn鈥檛 expect to hear that music ever again.
In fact, she hoped she wouldn鈥檛.
As West 麻豆传媒映画resident Chan Hon Goh co-ordinates the intertwining spectacle and sentiment of this year鈥檚 staging of The Nutcracker at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre 鈥� a production that includes 250 actors, dancers, gymnasts; malevolent mice and whimsical unicorns 鈥� she recalls when she first became acquainted with the Sugar Plum Fairy.
As a 19-year-old newcomer to the National Ballet of Canada, Goh saw her name on the cast list for what would be her first major role in her first full-length ballet.
鈥淚t was unforgettable,鈥� she says of playing the Sugar Plum Fairy.
But it was also exhausting. While the ballet company might do eight performances of Swan Lake, they tended to do 30 performances of The Nutcracker.
鈥淚 probably thought at that point, when I retire, I don鈥檛鈥� ever want to hear the Nutcracker music again,鈥� she says with a laugh. 鈥淓very time I鈥檇 hear the Sugar Plum Fairy music 鈥� and they sometimes play it in restaurants 鈥� I鈥檇 lose my appetite because that鈥檚 a very difficult dance.鈥�
. . .
It was Paris in the summer when he heard the heavens.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had just begun the task of finding the music that would turn the Nutcracker and the Mouse King 鈥� a children鈥檚 story published in 1816 鈥� into a ballet.
The composer was on his way back to St. Petersburg after a stop in Carnegie Hall when he found himself in Paris, arrested by an instrument he鈥檇 never heard before.
It was the celeste, French for 鈥渉eavenly.鈥�
Invented only five years earlier, the keyboard instrument had a delicate sound, similar to a glockenspiel but soft, ethereal; perfect, Tchaikovsky realized, for the Sugar Plum Fairy.
The Nutcracker debuted in St. Petersburg in 1892, complete with marauding mice, a toy that acted as a passport to a magical, sugar-sparkling world, as well as perhaps the most beloved ballet music ever composed.
It was a dud.
鈥淔or the woman dancer there is very little in it, for art precisely nothing, and for the artistic fate of our ballet 鈥� it is yet one more step downwards,鈥� wrote a critic of the day.
Even Tchaikovsky seemed to side with the critics.
鈥淚n spite of all the sumptuousness it did turn out to be rather boring,鈥� he wrote in a letter to a friend. The great composer also dubbed what would become his signature masterpiece: 鈥渋nfinitely worse than Sleeping Beauty.鈥�
But following that crucible of distaste and indifference, The Nutcracker saw a resurgence, in part because the story carried an appeal for one overlooked demographic: children.
On that St. Petersburg stage, one of the mice was played by George Balanchine. And while the ballet meant little to critics, it meant everything to Balanchine. It meant Christmas.
鈥淔or me Christmas was something extraordinary,鈥� the dancer and choreographer Balanchine once told writer Solomon Volkov. 鈥淥n Christmas night we had only the family at home: mother, auntie, and the children. And, of course, the Christmas tree.鈥�
With a $25,000, 41-foot Christmas tree, Balanchine debuted The Nutcracker in New York in 1954 鈥� 62 years after its underwhelming debut.
鈥淲ithin a year it was a holiday blockbuster,鈥� wrote Vanity Fair鈥檚 Laura Jacobs.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to pick an entry ballet we suggest you go to The Nutcracker,鈥� remarks Goh. 鈥淔or the students and for the dancers that participate, it鈥檚 a big part of their upbringing.鈥�
. . .
Growing up in China in the 1970s, Goh has memories of seeing her parents flit and fly about the stage.
鈥淚 watched so many performances,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y grandmother would always say that I鈥檇 be dancing in the aisles while the performers were dancing on stage.鈥�
But she also remembers being forced to wait before she could officially walk up to the barre.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 have private ballet schools,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was all state-run ballet schools and the youngest age you could start was 10.鈥�
But her training got a jumpstart when her family immigrated to Canada. Goh was eight years old and while she鈥檇 always loved to dance, movement took on a new importance in her life.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know a word of English when we immigrated,鈥� she says, recalling the struggle to catch up to her classmates鈥� conversations through daily ESL classes. 鈥淚 think I felt that dancing, that was something that was a constant. ... I didn鈥檛 need language skills when I was in dance class,鈥� she says.
At 11 years old she sat down with her father and told him she wanted to train seriously.
鈥淚 actually didn鈥檛 have any inclination that I鈥檇 be a professional dancer at all. I just was in dance because I loved it.鈥�
Following a colourful career including a stint as the prima ballerina for the National Ballet of Canada, Goh hung up her slippers in 2010 and tiptoed back to West Vancouver.
Her career has come full circle, she says, discussing her role mentoring young dancers and offering them different ways to express themselves through the training ground of Goh Ballet.
She says there鈥檚 a 鈥渉uge difference鈥� between being a dancer and her current role as a teacher and producer.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e dancing, it鈥檚 all about 鈥榤e.鈥� And it should be. The focus is on the dancer,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou need to do what is best for you in order to deliver the best performance ... but if you鈥檙e the teacher or the producer it鈥檚 really never about you. It鈥檚 about everything else.鈥�
In order to make this year鈥檚 rendition of The Nutcracker distinct, Goh plans to outfit the theatre lobby with decorations and set pieces.
Until the moment the lights go down in the theatre, Goh will be hard at work.
鈥淢y job is kind of done when the curtain goes up,鈥� she says.
But when the curtain comes up she can relax, she says, and enjoy the music once more.
This article has been amended to correct the spelling of Chan Hon Goh.
