(From left) Enrico Hipolito as the Cavalier and Eri Nishihara as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Richmond Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” (Photo by Sarah Ferguson)
The minute ballerina Eri Nishihara steps onstage to perform the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in the holiday ballet “The Nutcracker,” she feels the magic, lightness and confidence of a fairy.
“It’s really important to make sure we can convey the fact that we are a fairy,” says Nishihara, a company dancer with the Richmond Ballet. “You have to show ethereal qualities, elegance and sparkle.”
Her goal, she says, is to keep the magic alive, something that’s easy for people to forget during this hectic time of year.
This will be Nishihara’s fourth season performing the iconic role. “It’s special to be able to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy,” she says. “When I first got to do the role, I was very excited, and I still am every year. There’s so much to add or subtract. You make it more than what it was every year. I get to grow with it every season.”
There is a responsibility that comes with the role, and Nishihara, who grew up in Japan and began taking dance lessons at age 5, says she finds inspiration in the connection she feels between music and dance. “I am a huge believer in music and dance being one together. I rely on music for inspiration. It helps me become the Sugar Plum Fairy or anything else I am playing.”
Multiple ballerinas are selected for the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. This year Izabella Tokev will be dancing the role for the first time in the Richmond Ballet’s annual production; she performed it once previously for youth audiences from Richmond and elementary schools in the surrounding counties.
“It was such a great introduction to the role,” says Tokev, who is celebrating her ninth season with the company. “It’s a three-year process to get to this point. You have got to have those years to understand the role and to get comfortable with your partner [in Tokev’s case, Jack Miller].”
Ballerina Izabella Tokev rehearses for the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. (Photo by Molly Huey)
What excites her the most is that everyone in the audience knows the Sugar Plum Fairy is going to come out onstage. “She is the epitome of grace, beauty and sweetness,” Tokev says. “I’m so excited to portray that. Every little girl hopes to do this kind of role.”
The ethereal sound that starts the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” comes from a celesta, a keyboard instrument similar to a piano but with its own distinct sound. Unlike piano hammers that strike strings, the hammers of the celesta strike a graduated set of metal plates. “It produces a sound that is atmospheric, that can give color to other instruments,” says Russell Wilson, principal pianist for the Richmond Symphony, who plays the celesta in “The Nutcracker.” “The glockenspiel has a similar sound.”
Russell Wilson, principal pianist for the Richmond Symphony, plays the celesta in the orchestra pit during rehearsal for this year’s production of “The Nutcracker.” (Photo courtesy Richmond Symphony)
The celesta, which means “heavenly,” was invented by Auguste Mustel, a French harmonium builder, in 1886. His father, Charles Victor Mustel, developed the typophone, a precursor to the celesta. Tchaikovsky discovered the celesta at the 1889 Paris Exposition, and though he wasn’t the first to use the instrument, he made it famous by using it to accompany the Sugar Plum Fairy.
“The one we use in the orchestra is a small wooden box with keys like a keyboard. We have had it in the orchestra since the 1970s,” says Wilson, who started playing with the symphony in 1973. “A lot of people don’t know what they are hearing when they hear the celesta.”
The instrument has been used in many different genres of music, including pop and jazz. “It has been in major scores, like [the composer] John Williams’ scores in ‘Star Wars’ and ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ as well as the score in [the Harry Potter movies],” Wilson says. “George Gershwin used it in ‘An American in Paris.’”
The celesta is also used in Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” The Beatles’ “Baby It’s You,” and the song “Pure Imagination” from “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” “Bruce Springsteen and Sheryl Crow have used it as well,” Wilson says.
He is thrilled to have the chance to play the instrument in “The Nutcracker” again this year and believes the sound has a magic that stirs the imagination. “It’s ideal for the ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ because of the playfulness and toy-like sounds,” he says. “It makes people feel young, and it helps the dancers dance on air.”
Richmond Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” is onstage through Dec. 23 at Dominion Energy Center’s Carpenter Theatre.
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