For my birthday, John got tickets for the four of us to attend the Hip Hop Nutcracker at the Palace Theater in Columbus.  I thought it would be fun for all of us to try something different.  I’ve seen the ballet Nutcracker many times but Tom isn’t a big ballet fan.  Hip Hop Nutcracker sounded like something we all could enjoy.

I felt pretty good about going to the Palace Theater for an outing, despite the pandemic.  The Palace Theater requires proof of vaccination before you can enter the building.  They also require everyone to wear a mask the entire time you are in the building.  And they were very serious about it.  People were stationed at every entrance checking vaccination cards and matching them with photo ID.  Everyone wore their masks without exception and kept them on.

The theater was full, although not sold out.  The first thing I noticed was the DJ up on the stage.  Not something you usually see at a Nutcracker performance.  Then MC Kurtis Blow came out on stage.  He introduced himself and the DJ and then asked if we were ready to Par-taaay?  Again, this was the first time I experienced an MC at a Nutcracker performance.  I didn’t even know who Kurtis Blow was, although most of the audience seemed to.

Turns out Kurtis Blow was the first commercially successful rapper back in 1980.  He led a short set, encouraging the audience to sing along, clap and dance.  I didn’t know any of his songs, but it was fun to clap and move around with the rest of the audience.  John said he recognized the songs from when he was a kid.  It was obvious there were lots of Kurtis Blow fans in the audience.

Once he had us all warmed up and enthusiastic, the Hip Hop Nutcracker started.  The story was basically the same as Tchaikovsky’s, and the music was the classical version most of us are familiar with.  But the DJ added some beats and occasionally a violinist would come out to play a few songs in an updated style.

The dancing, however, was the real treat.  Good dancing, no matter what kind it is, is always a delight to watch.  These dancers, collected from all over the world, were great.  Their body control was fantastic and they did a great job of interpreting the traditional story in a modern way.  Some of the moves were more like ballet, but there was plenty of spinning, tumbling, and flipping.  The audience freely applauded during the dances and even clapped along with some of the songs.

I especially appreciated the second act, which has all the “spotlight” dances.  In the classic Nutcracker, they seem to go on and on.  The Hip Hop Nutcracker shortened the second act considerably, leaving out some parts entirely and cutting other songs in half.  The dancers lined up and performed the different “spotlights” in segments that were only a few minutes long.  Much more enjoyable than a ballet that goes on for hours.

The diverse and inclusive audience appreciated all of it, as did the four of us.  In fact, we all enjoyed it so much that John and Jackie said they would be interested in seeing the classic version next year.

This is the seventh year for the touring company of Hip Hop Nutcracker.  If you have a chance to see it, I encourage you to do so and let me know what you think.