Oakland Ballet: Whimsy elevates Guidi's 'Nutcracker'

In a blinding flash onstage, the human versions of the Nutcracker, the Mouse King and the Ballerina were magically replaced by small inanimate dolls. Seated somewhere behind us, a young patron of Oakland Ballet let out a decidedly impressed, "Whoa!"

It's a wonderful thing to watch a piece of theater inspire awe, and the warmly enthusiastic audience was certainly awed at the Oakland Ballet Company's "Nutcracker," which opened its six-performance run at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on Friday.

Even if this is not the most lavishly budgeted or refined production in the Bay Area, the childlike, antic humor and whimsical storybook settings distinguish and elevate director and choreographer Ronn Guidi's intimate retelling of the oft-told "Nutcracker," which premiered in 1972.

Read more on the SF Chronicle site.
(Photo by Marty Sohl)

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KQED Profile: Ronn Guidi

Passion for the art of dance is perhaps the defining quality of Oakland's Ronn Guidi, director of the Oakland Ballet Academy, and founder of the famous Oakland Ballet.

An ever-energetic mainstay of the East Bay's dance scene, Guidi created the Oakland Ballet in 1965, leading the small regional company to international attention in the 1970s with his canny choices of repertoire. Bolstered by a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and ambitious world premieres, like Eugene Loring's The Tender Land --for which composer Aaron Copland himself conducted the opening night -- Guidi's enthusiasm and efforts paved the way for the troupe to become a major force in the dance world as one of the few remaining companies in the world performing the lavish and inventive ballets created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. It was he who brought living legends such as Leonide Massine, Frederic Franklin and Irina Nijinska to stage authoritative restorations of Boutique Fantasque and Les Biches.


Read more on the KQED Spark website.

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