Christmas dream: New Mexico Ballet Company's twist on 'The Nutcracker' dances its way to Popejoy Hall

The story of “The Nutcracker” is timeless.

Clara’s dream of her nutcracker doll coming to life returns to Popejoy Hall with an opening performance on Saturday, Nov. 30. “The Nutcracker Ballet” features a cast of more than 100 dancers from the community and 22 professional dancers from the New Mexico Ballet Company, as well as current stars of the San Francisco Ballet and the New York City Ballet. Fifty musicians from the New Mexico Philharmonic will perform the famous score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Christmas dream: New Mexico Ballet Company's twist on 'The Nutcracker' dances its way to Popejoy Hall

Eventgoers will be pleasantly surprised with a slight twist in the second act, typically referred to as the “Land of the Sweets.”

“Over the years, ‘Nutcracker’ has had some cultural associations with some of the variations in divertissements,” said Kelly Ruggiero, artistic director of the New Mexico Ballet Company. “I decided to actually make each variation a very sweet space. The first one would be ‘Chocolate.’ We have ‘Caramel,’ ‘Tea,’ ‘Meringue’ and ‘Cinnamon.’ So the choreography that I put forth this year is more representative of sweet versus a cultural movement.”

Ruggiero said her version of “The Nutcracker” leans toward contemporary ballet.

“Caramel is a really good example of that,” she explained. “It’s more of a gooey, taffy like quality, in terms of movement versus classical ballet technique ... I’d say all these variations have their own little themes of more contemporary ballet versus a very strict classical ballet take on it. You’ll see, like with Chocolate, a little bit more flare, with Tea it’s a little bit more cutesy. Meringue is very like swirly in the movements with the arms, and there’s some props too that we’ve integrated this year to kind of represent that theme of whipped sugar. And then, Cinnamon is very spicy, as it sounds.”

Ruggiero said she rechoreographed the entire ballet.

“I’ve had a few actually guest choreographers as well, put their hands into some of the choreography,” she said. “We have the same framework. It’s essentially the same story, but different movement than what we’ve had the past few years, which is refreshing, both for the dancers and any audience members that have seen it recently.”

The contemporary changes to the choreography have been welcomed by the dancers.

“I think for most dancers, they do ‘The Nutcracker’ every season with whatever company they’re with,” Ruggiero said. “It’s something that is very familiar. So changing up the movement for them, just refreshes it and keeps them on their toes, I guess you could say.”

Ruggiero knows what it means to want to keep ballet fresh and interesting. Prior to becoming artistic director, she performed with a few different professional companies including the Nevada Ballet Theatre that performs both classical and contemporary ballet, and the David Taylor Dance Theatre, which performs a “very contemporary” form of ballet.

Ruggiero moved to Albuquerque in 2011 and hung up her pointe shoes until she decided to take a ballet class.

“The artistic director at the time said, ‘Do you want to join us? We’d love to have you dance with us,’” she said. “So I strapped the pointe shoes back on and I continued to dance up through last year. I faded out, obviously, according to what my body can do at my age.”

Ruggiero has been involved in New Mexico ballet since her move to the Land of Enchantment. She took over as production manager for the New Mexico Ballet Company in 2017 and started to get involved on the business side of productions.

“I’ve always worked closely with the artistic director,” she said. “When you are in a company with the number of contacts that we have and the amount of people we collaborate with, you start to develop relationships and connections with everyone that you’re working with. I think having that background helped me to transition as artistic director.”

The previous artistic director of the New Mexico Ballet Company moved with her husband to Ireland this past spring, according to Ruggiero.

“I was offered the opportunity and I decided to take it on to keep the dance continuing,” she said.

Like any athletic sport, there is plenty of wear and tear on the body, which Ruggiero experienced, particularly in her joints. Although she is no longer performing on stage, she is happy to remain part of the ballet community.

“It’s a passion, so it’s something that’s really difficult to give up,” she said. “So at least if I can be involved, even as a choreographer, just even working with the (New Mexico Ballet) Company, it’s a bonus for me.”