Alberta Ballet is one of the many outstanding Canadian arts organizations that the National Arts Centre partners with every year. Under the leadership of its artistic director Jean Grand-Maître, the company has become known for high-quality dance and inventive repertoire, as evidenced by their recent collaborations with kd Lang, Joni Mitchell and Elton John.
This holiday season, as the NAC prepares to present Alberta Ballet’s lavish production of The Nutcracker, choreographed by Edmund Stripe, we take a look at some of the lesser-known elements of this dazzling show... strictly by the numbers:
The costumes
329 – Number of costumes made in house in Calgary, and in design studios in New York, Montreal and Chicago
137 – Number of accessories used in this production
60 to 90 – Hours of labour to create a single tutu
100 – Yards of tulle and ruffle used
3,500 – Cost in dollars of each tutu
The shoes
3 to 7– Lifespan in days of pointe shoes worn by The Nutcracker dancers
100 – Cost in dollars of one pair of pointe shoes
100,000 – Alberta Ballet’s annual pointe shoe budget
The athleticism
1.5 – Tons of ballerinas that a male dancer lifts during a performance
2 – Duration in hours of The Nutcracker, equivalent to playing two 90-minute soccer games, back-to-back
32 – Fouetté turns that a ballerina completes during a performance. (The foutté turn is performed on the exact same spot on the floor. After the show, a ballerina’s pointe shoe is hot to the touch. It is so worn out that it can only be worn in rehearsal from then on.)
The crew
2, 4, 6, 4, 6 and 1 – Backstage crew or running crew needed for one performance of The Nutcracker:
2 people to move props
4 stage carpenters to move scenery
6 electricians
4 fly-men to move backdrops and soft scenery
6 wardrobe people
1 audio person
17 – Backdrops (measuring 75 feet wide by 35 feet high) used in the show
3 – Number of weeks it takes one person to make a backdrop, whether painted or covered in fabric or other materials
The sparkle
2008 – Year The Nutcracker premiered in Calgary, with costumes by American opera and ballet costume designer, Zack Brown
160 – Number of sparkling costumes in the production, which takes place in Imperial Russia
350 to 700 – Hours it takes every year to maintain, repair, rebuild and fit costumes
3,500 – Approximate cost in dollars it takes to create each costume(The wardrobe department’s favorite part of The Nutcracker is the snowflake scene: a magical, winter wonderland where the ballerinas are dressed like little czarinas in romantic tutus.)
5 – Weight in pounds of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s tutu. This classical tutu has 13 layers of tulle and one layer of cream brocade, with a beautiful golden thread woven through the fabric.
6,000 – Number of Swarovski crystal rhinestones glued by hand on the costumes worn in this production
500 – Amount, in dollars spent every year to replace rhinestones that fall off during performances
35 – Number of wigs and hairpieces in the production
The stars of the show
60 to 80 – Number of children recruited to dance in The Nutcracker in every city the production visits
4 – Number of hours needed by the wardrobe department to fit the children in costumes in each city
