NYCB Vol. 13 No. 36 - Nutcracker

Lauryn Johnson
Dec 25, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Jan 19

Counting down 50 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear about Peter Martins, who was a guest artist with NYCB in 1967, joined the company from 1970-1983 and was the artistic director 1990-2018:

“The Cavalier in ‘The Nutcracker’ was the first role Martins danced in America with the New York City Ballet on Christmas Day, 1967. He chose to end his dancing career with it on the company’s 1,000th performance of the work.

“A gasp of pleasure mixed with awe went up during the Cavalier’s solo just before the end, as Martins covered the stage in breathtaking arcs that the audience realized it would never see him execute again. If our eyes were as quick and alert as the dancers’ bodies, we might always watch ballet as it was watched during those moments—as an unrepeatable act, matchless and unrecapturable. There was a roar from the house at the final curtain. Bouquets were carried out from the wings to Farrell, Watts and, to his visible surprise, Martins himself. More bouquets cascaded to the stage from the balconies. There was no guessing how long the ovation might have gone on—had not Martins, with a characteristic expression that seemed to indicate ‘Let’s be reasonable,’ bowed off for the last time and brought it to a close.”

“Does Martins have any regrets about leaving the stage forever? ‘Right now I’m excited and a little bit apprehensive, because I’m anticipating a reaction that hasn’t set in yet,’ he says. ‘It will come. I’m not one to get sentimental about saying farewell. But I cast myself in certain parts because ultimately I was sentimental, I guess.’”

[Quoted from Newsweek Magazine, 1983. Written by Walter Clemons]