Yet “The Nutcracker” gives it a friendly spin. “The Franco-Russian alliance was depicted in the original costuming,” Morrison says. “Initially the nutcracker is fighting the mice on his ...

The classic, with music by Russian ... Elsewhere, a princess is bitten by a gigantic mouse, and during battle, riflemen bite off their own legs to fall, crush, and kill the nutcracker’s army.

It takes some doing in this country to be more than about 25 miles from a production of “The Nutcracker” during the Christmas season. The ballet has become as American as Friday Night Lights ...

bearded nutcracker—play parts. That initial Russian staging is no longer on the boards, but subsequent productions—danced to ...

It wasn’t until 1954 its staging by George Balanchine with the New York City Ballet, however, that “The Nutcracker” became a holiday staple. Balanchine, the Russian-born founder of the New ...

and Russian Troika, ostensibly to engage with their cultures, but have frequently been criticized for containing offensive stereotypes. Given that “The Nutcracker” is ultimately ballet ...

South African ballet dancers in the Russian Ballet Ensemble perform The Nutcracker in Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 10. Ihsaan Haffejee / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Ukraine is ...

Ukraine's culture minister is calling on the nation's Western allies to temporarily boycott Russian artists and ... quintessential Christmas classic The Nutcracker, is a big ask — and a late ...

Image Vilnius, the capital. Lithuania set aside Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” two years ago after declaring a “mental quarantine” from Russian culture.Credit...Andrej Vasilenko for The New ...

Is it any wonder that The Nutcracker is one of the most popular ballets in the country, if not the world? Yet when you dig into the Russian roots of this holiday classic, there’s a dark history ...