Last week's issue of The New Yorker published a cheery little round-up of three productions of The Nutcracker you can take in this holiday season in New York. Balanchine at New York City Ballet: check. Mark Morris's The Hard Nut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM): check. And for good measure, a supposedly "darker" new version by Alexei Ratmansky for American Ballet Theatre, opening (also at BAM) next week. Checkmate?
Yes, that would be more than enough for most cities, but conspicuously absent from the list is a fourth, and probably the most adventurous, Nutcracker-inspired production. Austin McCormick's 
Nutcracker Rouge is lighting up the nights in a converted tow truck warehouse not far from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. While less than a mile from the relative splendors of BAM, Company XIV's gaudy and unexpected performance space beckons you off the quiet streets with a brightly lit Christmas tree and, inside, visible through big glass doors, a crowd milling about drinking champagne and sherry and eating cookies, waiting for the show to begin, excited to see what new dance/theatre extravaganza the adventurous young choreographer is about to unveil.
Based on past productions, they can be sure of a few things: it will be spectacular. The choreography will be brilliant. It will use a wide range of evocative music, from baroque to jazz.
And—unless it's one of their family-oriented shows like last winter's Snow White—it will be pretty darn sexy. The New York Times calls Company XIV's work "a brainy, high-entertainment mix of music hall, cabaret, theater and dance," but there's almost always a powerful erotic strain, and that tastefully raunchy element is especially key to Nutcracker Rouge, which opened this past weekend and runs through January 9, 2011. In it, innocent Marie-Claire is led by a leering stepfather through a series of dance experiences in the Kingdom of Sweets before she can be united with her Nutcracker Prince and presumably live happily ever after. Call it dance/theatre; call it "meta music hall" as the Times, reaching, also once did; whatever you call it, Nutcracker Rouge is an orgy (and I use that word purposely) of burlesque showmanship, extravagant costumes, and athletically beautiful choreography.
To give you an idea: for the current production, the program lists ten performers…and nine costume interns.
McCormick founded Company XIV in 2006. With degrees from Julliard as well as the Conservatory of Baroque Dance, he has all the paper qualifications you could ask for, but his vision is what makes him unique. He took the time to answer a few questions for Blogcritics.
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