Ballet is all it’s cracked up to be

The prestigious Kiev Ballet continues the Nutcracker tradition at Segerstrom Hall.Same story, different storytellers.

Such is the case this week when the classic Christmas tale “The Nutcracker” again finds its home at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Each year, the center tries to find a new way to present the tale of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. Judith O’Dea Morr, the center’s interim president, said this year’s performance is special because it is the first time the Kiev Ballet of the Ukranian National Opera has come to Segerstrom Hall.

It is the company’s first performance on an American stage.

“I don’t think you ever get tired of ‘The Nutcracker,’” Morr said. “You never get tired of Christmas carols. New companies come along and do it slightly different. You begin to appreciate the nuances.”

This version, performed by one of the most recognizable ballet companies in the world, is a restaged version of “The Nutcracker” ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa.

“This is a more traditional performance, a restaging by a great legendary choreographer,” Morr said.

Whereas the American Ballet Theatre’s Nutcracker performance calls for Clara to be played by a child, Petipa’s version has a young adult play the lead female role.

Ballerina Anastassia Matvienko, winner of the gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition, is playing Clara in the opening-night performance. Her husband, Denys Matvienko, stars with her as the Prince.

“‘The Nutcracker’ is such a great story,” Anastassia Matvienko said through an interpreter. “I feel I’m in the fairy tale when the story starts. When I’m dancing, I feel it’s a part of my life.”

As a child, Matvienko danced the role of Clara. She said she has a greater understanding of the character’s depth this time around.

‘The Nutcracker,’ based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale, is the story of Clara, a young girl who receives a wooden nutcracker on Christmas Eve from a toymaker. Giant mice, led by the Mouse King, threaten Clara’s Christmas dream, and the Prince Nutcracker rescues her and takes her on a journey through a magical land.

Olexiy Baklan will conduct Orange County’s Pacific Symphony in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s score.

The 138-year-old ballet company, which has 150 dancers, has been led by artistic director Victor Yaremenko since 2000. The Kiev Ballet performs 16 to 18 individual ballets per month in its home country.

Fifty-five dancers are in Orange County for the week, fresh off a two-week production run in Mexico.

Orange County Performing Arts Center employees have already gotten into the Nutcracker spirit. Morr said the center is planning an offstage party for children before the performances.

“‘The Nutcracker’ should be part of everybody’s family tradition,” Morr said.

IF YOU GO

* WHAT: Kiev Ballet presents “The Nutcracker”

* WHEN: Tonight through Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

* WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

* COST: $25-$85

* CONTACT: (714) 556-2787 or www.ocpac.org20051213irf112kn(LA)Clara (Natalia Domracheva) and her Prince (Yaroslav Salenko) will take to the stage of the Performing Arts Center as the esteemed Kiev Ballet brings “The Nutcracker” to town from Dec. 13 to 18.