Ballet fans know that, whenever there is a festive atmosphere on stage, there is also the chance to see quite amazing costumes inspired by cakes and candies. When the Prince escorts Clara to the Land of Sweets in "The Nutcracker", audiences get for example the chance to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and watch dances performed by several foreign delicacies.
If you're looking for an en pointe sugar rush and can't wait till Christmas to get your yearly dose of Sugar Plum Fairy, you can opt for "Whipped Cream", a recent creation by the American Ballet Theater (premiered in March, the work has been on in New York this week and will be back from 27th June to 1st July).
The piece, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky (resident ABT artist since 2009) and set on Richard Strauss's "Schlagobers" (1924), revolves around a First Communion boy who, after eating too many cakes at a confectioner's shop, is taken to the hospital where he has a sugar-induced delirium.
The boy's sucrose coma gives life to the shop's sweets and an entire group of bizarre characters comes to life, among them there are Marzipan, Sugarplum and Gingerbread Men, Princess Tea Flower, Prince Coffee, Prince Cocoa, Princess Praline, Don Zucchero and, an entire dancing Whipped Cream corps de ballet.
The boy will eventually rejoin his dreamy sugar friends at the very end of the ballet: Princess Praline & Co. will indeed come to his rescue after a rather dark night in the hospital together with cartoonish nurses and a doctor with a drinking habit (three comical bottles of liqueurs will help Princess Praline doing the trick...) and an oversized head (there's a bunch of characters in the ballet with huge carbon fibre heads – the carriage driver, the parish priest, the chef and the doctor).
The inspiration for Strauss' score should be tracked back to Diaghilev's 1919 ballet, "La Boutique Fantasque", about a toy shop that comes to life (a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine), but the piece was also a celebration of the Viennese pastry shops.
The choreography is exciting and intricate, with tricky steps resolved by a touch of enchanting frivolity. Ratmansky alternates dark and cheerful dances, joyfully exuberant leaps and spins with romantic pas de deuxs, juxtaposing waltzes and polkas with adagios and classical ballet with gestures and poses reminiscent of the Commedia dell'Arte.
The most notable thing about "Whipped Cream" is the arty collaboration with pop surrealist Mark Ryden, the mind behind the kitsch sugar rush pervading the sets and costumes.
Ryden worked with independent costume supervisor Holly Hynes and scenic design supervisor Camellia Koo on his sketches, paintings and digital renderings.
The pink and frothy sets - representing a village church, a pastry shop, a whipped cream world, a hospital room and a square - could be considered as incredibly detailed and lavish Dali-esque candy landscapes populated by fantastically surreal characters.
There's hundreds of anthropomorphic dancing confectionery donning wearable swirls of whipped cream and sugar plum pastry dresses; macaroons and meringues hang from some outfits, and there are also giant characters and fluffy monsters resembling crossovers between Ryden's trademark snow yak and a soft Alpacasso toy.
Mesmerising and hallucinating, at times vaguely reminiscent of his "Memory Lane" diorama (minus its most disturbing death-related elements, but including his trademark Abraham Lincoln's heads...), Ryden's vision works particularly well, being a combination of a burlesque version of "The Nutcracker" and an hallucinated "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" with a heavy Tim Burton-like twist (the creepy "Worm Candy Man" may leave you sleepless for at least one night...).
As a whole this colourful cabinet-of-curiosity and monstrously eye-popping candyland that will surely attract new generations of fans to ballet, is also a tribute to joy: indeed, when Richard Strauss created "Schlagobers", he stated, "I cannot bear the tragedy of the present time. I want to create joy". Strauss' mantra works particularly well in our dark times riddled with all sorts of fears and anxieties.
There is a final arty note about this piece reminiscent of last year's collaboration between the New York City Ballet and artist Marcel Dzama.
While ballet fans with a sweet tooth shouldn't miss it for dance related reasons, modern art fans will get an extra kick as the ballet is accompanied by an exhibition at the Paul Kasmin Gallery (until 21st July).
Entitled "Mark Ryden: The Art of Whipped Cream" the event features whimsical drawings, sketches and paintings created for the ballet that will shed more light about Ryden's transition from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional objects and costumes.
For further visual eye-candy (pun intended), check out Ryden's site, his Instagram page or ABT's Instagram page.
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