NYCB Vol. 13 No. 13 - Nutcracker

[13/52] Counting down 52 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear from Viki Bromberg Psihoyos who danced in the company from 1971-1984:

“I think I once counted all the Nutcrackers I have danced with NYCBallet, and it came to around 700. Thirteen years of Snow and Flowers, or Marzipan with the company. Many stories, many mishaps, many New Year’s Eve nonsense….re-choreographing Flowers was naughty fun. Anything to get us off pointe for the circle….

“As a child, I got to dance Party Scene/Polichinelle for several years. Now that was a treat! We got to wear wonderful costumes, dance to Tchaikovsky music played by a live orchestra, wear make up, miss school, and be part of the NYCBallet Family. Everyday!

“Polichinelle was a bit scary; we had to shuffle out crouched under the skirt. It was dark in there, and if you were next to the stilts, you had to avoid getting stepped on. It hurt and made Mother Ginger angry. Big responsibility for a little person…we were all girls back then. Not enough boys at the school to fill the ranks.

“I danced Party Scene as a girl for several years, and finally as a boy, with my hair tucked into a brown beret. My ‘parents’ were BJ Sills and Alphonso Cata, and he was with Willy Bermann in real life. They were so sweet to me, they ‘adopted’ me.  I remember little gifts at Christmas….and they called me Hermann, which he remembered well into his later years at Steps. I was always Hermann.”