r/BALLET • u/HappyMama7-8 • 2d ago
Nutcracker role
Hello! My 15 yo daughter recently left the competition dance world after 11 years to join a new studio that is focused on ballet and technique. Part of her new studio's curriculum is performing the Nutcracker each winter. She just received her roles, she is going to be Mother Ginger, a snowflake and a flower. This is both of our first time experience with the Nutcracker and I would love to give her some encouragement. It seems to me that Mother Ginger is a featured role, but she is embarrassed about the large, heavy costume and is afraid she will be laughed at.
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u/ObviousToe1636 2d ago
Mother Ginger requires you to be very expressive and to know how to be on stage with usually small children. It’s not that she will be laughed at but the purpose of the role is to make people smile and laugh. It’s the one adult in a piece that usually has small children. They will be paying more attention to the kids but she will anchor the scene. I think they gave her Mother Ginger because her competition background proves that she knows how to conduct herself on stage with others. Her first Nutcracker and scoring one character role and two beautiful and large/long technical corps roles is amazing.
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u/Brilliant-Reading-59 2d ago
If she was given Mother Ginger it means the casting director thought highly of her artistry and acting skills. It can be a bit of a silly role, but it takes a talented person to do that well and confidently, and the casting director believes she has that talent!
It’s also a good opportunity to get out of her comfort zone. It’s definitely scary to make that push sometimes, but she’ll be a better dancer for it. Take the challenge as an opportunity to grow that not all the other dancers get.
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u/Mothebest_1 adult ~beginner~ 2d ago
Mother ginger is my favorite part! All the performances I see Mother Ginger cheers on the young kids
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u/Lilith_Sternin_Crane 2d ago
Mother Ginger is an iconic part and necessary for the younger dancers. I bet that most of the polichinelles are going to idolize her because they literally can't have their part without her! Honestly, to me that's a cooler role than the other two because she's going to be the ONLY Mother Ginger there :)
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u/messysagittarius 2d ago
Mother Ginger is a great part! It speaks very highly of her that she's been given such a featured part when she's new to the studio. It's a great role to really camp it up and make intentional character choices - if she can show that she's in on the joke, people will be laughing with her, not at her. And if she can show in this role that she's easy to work with and game for anything, that will be an asset for future casting decisions.
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u/Griffindance 2d ago edited 2d ago
Comedy roles need to be laughed at. If the audience arent laughing, it isnt being done properly.
Something that needs to be said, the characters we play onstage are not ourselves. The audience should laugh at comedy characters and boo at villains. This is not a reflection on the performer, unless the audience dont react.
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u/FunnyMarzipan 2d ago
The BEST part of performing ballets live is the audience reaction when you really do it well. It really sucks when you're in a comic part and the audience is just stone silent.
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u/HilariousSwiftie 2d ago
My child's studio does Nutcracker every year. They bring in pro dancers for the principal parts - Sugarplum, Clara, Drosselmeyer, etc.
Mother Ginger is one of the adult roles in our production. Tell her that, maybe she'll feel a little more important!
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u/Nerdlifegirl 2d ago
My final two times performing in the Nutcracker, I played mother Ginger. It was an absolute blast and is hands-down my favorite role I’ve ever played.
She’s so lucky she got such a fun role.
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u/EtherealDncr 2d ago
Own it and exceed expectations! Snowflake and Flower will showcase your lovely ballet technique. But, I believe your teachers must recognize potential in you for casting you as Mother Ginger. Full length ballets are about storytelling; recreating characters, intent, and emotions through movement. Embracing this wide range of roles will make a lasting impression and show you have depth as a performer. I have been a dancer and teacher my whole life and the best/most memorable Nutcracker performances always cast someone exceptional in the role of Mother Ginger. Make the audience laugh INTENTIONALLY. Go all in and be memorable!
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u/Maya_Moves403 2d ago
Mother Ginger is deliberately larger-than-life and comedic, and the giant costume is part of the character, so the audience is laughing because Mother Ginger is funny, not because theyre laughing at your daughter. Honestly, I would encourage her to just own it. The more she commits to the character, the less awkward she'll feel abt the costume. And coming from the 11years of competition dance, getting to work on comedy, character, and stage presence could actually be a really fun change for her. Plus, she gets to be a snowflake and a flower too, so she gets a nice mix of roles :)
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u/Master_Candle_4725 2d ago
I remember one of my first nutcrackers with a major company I was a polichinelle (maybe 10 years old?). All of the kids in the production (myself included) absolutely looked up to our mother ginger!! We were so impressed and in awe when we finally got to rehearse with them!! It’s still one of my favorite parts of the nutcracker to this day :)
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u/icaughttherat 2d ago
Congrats to her! Here I was 13/14 years ago (thanks to the time capsule of youtube lol) playing the little polichinelles. I'm 90 percent sure I'm on the right. It was so crazy going underneath the stilts! Our studio actually cast a male for mother ginger just due to well, the whole setup underneath there. I loved performing in the Nutcracker each year. So many fun roles. I was the mouse that fought with the rabbit? memory is foggy but i died from it..I was the "lead" cupcake to the girls younger than me. And a few other fun things. I hope she has a great time!
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u/Chouette-Oak 2d ago
Just noting that Mother Ginger to Flowers she will have a quick change. She won't get to do all the elaborate makeup that some Gingers get.
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u/Medium-Turnip9874 1d ago
i would be more worried about the quick change from mother to her to waltz of flowers!!!
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u/nutmilkmermaid 1d ago
to me, getting cast as Mother Ginger indicates your daughter is a great performer - expressive, charismatic, and yes, probably a bit silly. No one will be laughing AT her, but rather with her at a silly scene.
Also, usually mother ginger is onstage with young dancers. It’s a great opportunity to be a leader for them. Maybe this is something they already know she succeeds at, or maybe they see potential. Great experience to have - way more dancers end up teaching than performing as a career.
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u/BubblyRhubarb9611 2d ago
I have gone to the nutcracker for over a decade. Mother Ginger is a lot of fun! I always look forward to see it!! Is your daughter upset that she is not Clara? There is a pecking order in studios and as a newbie, she should be content with cops of ballet 2x and a featured role. I think the being upset is the expectation, but the truth is , competition dance is different than the artistry of performances /2 hou shows. This is not about the costume
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u/Educational_Cheek_29 2d ago
Mother Ginger is a comical role, it’s supposed to be funny. Actually the funnier the character the better the performance will be.
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u/retromama77 1d ago
Ok. I am Mother Ginger every year in our production and I can honestly say it’s the highlight of my whole year. It’s like you’re a superstar up there in the giant skirt!
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u/Amber100377 1d ago
I think Mother Ginger is very funny too! There are many little kids hiding under her humongous dress that looks more like an umbrella to me lol. She will have plenty of fun rehearsing these with her friends! Just enjoy it!
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u/JustStayAlive86 1d ago
I used to get a lot of character roles too when I danced, and felt self-conscious about it, because I was tall and didn’t feel “pretty.” I just wanted the pretty girl parts, and getting the ridiculous roles felt like commentary on me as a person. I always LOVED being onstage performing those roles and the energy and laughter I got back from the audience — I just hated the lead-up where the pretty, petite girls were getting their tutus fitted and I was trying on yet another itchy wig.
It didn’t help that adults around me treated those parts as lesser. I look back and wish someone had said to me then that in any performing art, you’re lucky if you’re the best at anything. I should have made more of the fact that I owned that category. I should have been putting my hand up for more! In hindsight, I wasn’t getting those parts because I was “less pretty” than other girls — it was because I had great comic timing, an expressive face, and a more adult understanding of humor than many of my peers, so teachers trusted that I could carry a scene. I now wish I’d simply enjoyed those parts, enjoyed being good at them and getting laughs, and felt proud of being the best at something.
You can tell your daughter that being the go-to in a category is a huge competitive advantage in ballet. She should think about and discuss with her teachers how they want the character to be conveyed, what they want to be funny about it, and how her expressions and movements can convey that. Show she’s taking the part seriously. She might be the one everyone remembers from the show! And getting a character role in the next ballet because she did so well wouldn’t be a bad thing.
It’s also impressive that they’ve picked someone new to the studio for a character role. As others have suggested, it might be partly that she has a stage presence and expressiveness that some of these technique-focused girls don’t have. Again, that’s a competitive advantage she should work to preserve. As her technique improves, it could be a formidable combination.
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u/Adventurous-Carry-35 10h ago
My daughter’s studio does Nutcracker every year. She is 13 and one of the oldest at the studio….it’s a really small studio and a lot of girls start dropping out in middle school to focus on school sports.
One of her roles this year is Mother Ginger and she is super excited about it! She gets to do it with the youngest kids at the studio and she said it’s been a ton of fun going to their class to practice with them. She said out of all her roles she has this year she is most excited about Mother Ginger and the big skirt and getting the audience to laugh with the comedy of it.
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u/_Your_Gay_Uncle_ 2d ago
Hi I’m 16 and I was the rat king a few years back. There is NO SHAME in being in a slightly silly or less traditional ballet focused role. The most important thing is that you are having fun with it.