Thursday, October 14, 2010

ANSWER: Music

Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann was commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891. The original production was staged by Marius Petipa on 18 December 1892, premiering on a double-bill with a now semi-forgotten Tchaikovsky opera, Iolanta.

In act II, Clara and the Prince arrive at the Kingdom of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Fairy and the people of the Kingdom of Sweets perform several dances for Clara and the Prince - a Spanish Dance, a Chinese Dance, an Arabian Dance, a Russian Dance, the Dance of the Clowns, the Dance of the Reed Flutes, the Waltz of the Flowers, and the Grand Pas de Deux, which includes the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The dances in the Kingdom of Sweets are not always performed in this order.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 287-238

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