Television: Battle of the Nutcrackers on OVATION

[Hamorah]

I just bought the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker from Dance Books on line. It's the inbetween version with Anthony Dowell as Drosselmeyer rather than as the Prince. Hope it's good - I haven't watched it yet. It's amazing how many versions there of the Nut!

[Mobadt]

We have recorded these for later watching as well. My DD and I watched the 'Circus' version during that 'battle' week while I was curling her hair for her upcoming performance, and we were strangely enthralled.....we didn't want to watch but could not look away. The dancers' feet were amazing! The dancing was great, and the costumes.....well I wasn't prepared for the Rooster - that was just too bizarre for me. It was certainly interesting!

I love the RB's Nutcracker with Ms. Alina - we actually have that DVD and didn't record the one in the 'battle' because I thought it was the one we had. Now I'll have to try and find it and record it! I love the whole battle promo - a la 'SYTYCD'. Just great! We added Ovation in November just to be able to watch some Nutcrackers.

[Robin G]

They repeat the ballets several times a day too! Some of these Nuts are pretty wild!

[bruyere]

We finally watched the Bolshoi. It was our second favorite after the Royal Ballet's.

 

Ms. Leigh, I haven't found a showing for PNB. Please share if you find it. We did record San Francisco Ballet's 2008 production, which was showing on Great Performances.

[pointeprovider]

Who dances the role of Clara in the Royal performance that they are showing on OVATION?

[LauraR]

The website lists her name as Lhona Loots, but surely it is Johna Loots of Royal Ballet.

[Marjolein]

I think you are all so lucky to have this much ballet on tv. All I could find here was Cinderella on BBC2 on Christmas day, and Don Quixotte on a Dutch channel, but that's it.

[zebradancing13]

What tv companies carry Ovation? I'm trying to figure out if I have it.

[Hippy Skippy]

We finally watched the Bolshoi. It was our second favorite after the Royal Ballet's.

 

That's our favorite too - Royal then Bolshoi!

 

Ro

[pointeprovider]

Comcast cable has it where we live, but I think that most large cities have mainstream cable companies that offer it; I've seen it when visiting large metropolitan areas.

[pavlova]

We have Ovation on Direct TV - although we have such a storm going on right now, the picture quality has not been great. We hope to make it through the Bolshoi tonight!

[dancetutumuch]

Also for those interested in North Carolina, UNCSA's nutcracker will be shown on UNC-TV. It will be shown tonight at 8pm, Christmas Eve at 8pm, and Christmas day at 10am and 4pm.

[Mobadt]

Oh that's so awesome! Wish we could get that and watch it!!

[Garyecht]

I have Verizon as my cable company and they have Ovation. If you are at all interested in the arts overall, Ovation is a nice channel, though it seems they have 99,000 commercials every hour. When they first had the battle of the Nutcrackers a few years ago I was into it, but this year not so much. Last night I watched my first one, which was the Casse Noisette Circus production, which I liked very much. But then I love circus and the unusual. The Hard Nut, which I think has won each time, has always been a favorite of mine.

 

After I send this, I’m heading for the Ovation web site to hear the documentary they have online about Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut.

[pointeprovider]

For those of you who wondered which version won and was shown on Christmas Eve, it was Royal Ballet's. Then, Ovation showed all of them in an all-day marathon on Christmas Day, including Royal again.