By Robin J. Miller For decades, ballet companies, especially in North America, have depended on The Nutcracker for their bread-and-butter, knowing it would draw vast crowds every Christmas and make it possible to present other, often more challenging fare the rest of the year. Thanks to pandemic restrictions, many companies cancelled their 2020 Nutcrackers months
When Makhar Vaziev took over the Bolshoi last year, he declared that classical ballet was and will always remain the company’s lifeline. And so it was when the Bolshoi toured to Japan in June, where a program of classics — Giselle, Swan Lake and Flames of Paris — dominated over 12 days of performances at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall. In Giselle, when Evgenia Obraztsova runs, her body