NYCB Vol. 13 No. 38 - Nutcracker

[38/50] Counting down 50 NYCB Nutcrackers this year with stories from NYCB dancers past and present! Today we hear from Philip Duclos who was a student at SAB and is now in the corps de ballet of the Royal Danish Ballet.

“For me performing the role of the Prince was really my introduction into performing on stage as a ballet dancer. I believe this role really taught me how to tell as story not only through my dancing, but through gestures and facial expressions. It also gave me a huge amount of confidence while performing on stage and I think it really paved the way for my dancing today. Without this role, I would not be where I am today.”

“I think the hardest part about performing the prince was just learning how to command the space and really lean into, and eventually enjoy the feeling of having thousands of eyes on you. I remember being told to really interact with the people standing around me on stage. [during the pantomime] There’s a big clump of people on either side of me and I just remember being told to really make eye contact with people while telling the story and learning to smile at them, not just telling the story to the audience, but to the other people on stage as well.

“As for the transformation from the Nutcracker Prince into the regular Prince, this was probably my favorite part of the whole ballet. It’s just such a magical moment to transform from the Nutcracker soldier into the Prince through this shell of a costume that gets ripped away from backstage. It was truly my favorite moment and I just remember the audience erupting in applause in this moment because it’s such a amazing transition.”