A Nutcracker Christmas

Christmas means only one thing for Ballet Companies around the world and that is the marathon that is Nutcracker season. I've had my own mini-marathon; a live performance by Birmingham Royal Ballet, a cinema screening of The Royal Ballet and, on my sofa, the guilty pleasure that is the Hallmark movie 'A Nutcracker Christmas'.

Feel free to judge me, but you can keep your 'Love Actually' and 'The Holiday', I'm cracking open the Baileys, having a mince pie and wholeheartedly embracing the schmaltz that is this made for TV Hallmark classic.

I do wonder why I enjoy this Christmas Tradition (and by that I mean Christmas Tradition of my own making) and I think it's because they actually cast dancers.

Sascha Radetsky, who, if you like a Dance Movie, starred in Center Stage and is a former soloist with ABT and a formal principal with Dutch National Ballet.

Amy Acker, a quick google tells me she studied Ballet and Modern Dance for 14 years, but a knee surgery in High School ended her professional dance career, which definitely adds a geniune poignant layer to the narrative.

They do cut to a double for the Grand Pas and other dance sequences in long shot, but for the rest of the film her grace, deportment and elegant Port de bras are pure classically trained dancer.

And it turns out (Ballet Buzzword Bingo Alert), that Sophia Lucia who plays Sadie/Clara broke the Guinness World Record for consecutive pirouettes in 2013, turning 55 of them at the age of 10, albeit wearing a tap shoe on her supporting leg, but it's still pretty impressive.

I should probably also mention that their Mr B character is very cheerful and friendly, I quite like the subversive element of that.

Anyway if you'd like to enjoy this very sugary journey to The Kingdom of the Sweets this festive season you can find it on Amazon Prime or Channel 5 (UK)

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