David Bintley on 2008's Claras

David Bintley introduces six dancers who will be taking on the role of Clara in Sir Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker this winter.

Carol-Anne Millar

'Although nobody can give an entirely fresh reading of the role of Clara, it being so familiar,' says David Bintley, Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, 'every dancer does stamp their own personality on the role.'

'Carol-Anne's Clara is more feisty than others,' he explains by way of example. 'She's assertive, she's vibrant and she's got a strong personality. Carol-Anne's brilliant in a lot of powerful roles, like Kate [Taming of the Shrew] in The Shakespeare Suite - she's just done The Firebird as well - but she also takes on roles like Juliet, which is quite restrained, especially in the first half of the ballet.

'Like with Juliet, when casting Clara, you're looking for a smaller dancer,' David explains. 'You want someone who is going to be youthful – you've got to be convinced that this is a young girl. So height, and physicality are important factors, then it's up to the dancer to get the steps right!

'Carol-Anne has that kind of energetic spitfire technique which means she can tackle these roles, and she can jump as high as most of the boys!'

Lei Zhao

'Lei came to the role a little later,' says David, 'but I believed she could do it, and she's been absolutely great.'

'Lei has what I can only describe as great poise, and great calmness, even if she's not necessarily feeling it! She did Clara first before Sugar Plum Fairy, and in both roles is very understated, very controlled.

So how do the challenges of Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy differ?

'The Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker is incomparable with the other big classical roles,' David reveals. 'While it's got a very demanding pas de deux, with a very difficult solo and a coda as well, the real difficulty is that it's the last thing that happens in the ballet, so you've got a ballerina hanging about until quarter past nine - that's when she goes on for an evening show. And then she's got to go on and launch immediately into this very taxing pas de deux.

'You don't get time to get into the pace of the piece before you've got to go straight into the tough stuff!'

Laëtitia Lo Sardo

'I find her very warm,' says David of Laëtitia Lo Sardo's interpretation of Clara. 'She's not big, not showy, but very very inclusive - she draws you in and takes the whole audience with her.

'Her work is very neat, very, very precise, and very clear - there's never any waste.

'I always get the feeling that Laëtitia's thought through everything, and nothing is left to chance,' David continues, 'but at the same time it feels entirely natural. She genuinely reacts to everything that is going on around her, rather than going 'well, what do I need to do next?' - it's a very real response, and this makes her very sympathetic, very clear.

The ability of a Clara to engage with the audience can actually make things difficult for the dancer playing the Sugar Plum Fairy, reveals David. 'While Sugar Plum is the lead ballerina role, when the dancer finally comes on they're competing with somebody who's been on stage all the way through the story,' he says, 'and whose personality we're so much more aware of by that point. So unless you get a really, really amazing performance from the Sugar Plum Fairy, it's still Clara who the audience feels that real connection with.'

Angela Paul

'Angela's just got a brilliantly expressive face,' says David, simply, 'and she's got a very strong technique, a big jump, and really secure turns. One of the things that I always find interesting is that a lot of these women can play kids, and look quite right in the roles!'

'Angela actually sometimes undersells herself,' he muses, explaining; 'She makes such a great connection with the audience, and a dancer's really got to use that - you've got to let the audience see you're feeling that connection as well, and let them show their appreciation. I had to tell her the other week to slow down her pause for applause after a solo, because she'll do an absolutely gorgeous solo and then just throw it away by doing a brief bob and running off into the wings!

'She's not the only one by any means, we've got principal dancers that also undersell themselves,' he reflects, before adding with a smile, 'and one or two who sometimes overdo it!'

Laura Purkiss

'While the role of Clara is quite tough, and technically taxing, you do, by its very nature, tend to try out younger dancers because the character is a young girl. You tend to think about "Clara potential" as soon as a dancer first walks through the door, really – "they'd be a good Clara, now could they handle the steps?"

This opportunity for a younger dancer to shine in a lead role is one that First Artist Laura comfortably rises to, proving an easily appealing Clara.

'Laura is a really good actress, very very good,' says David, 'and she's great at comedy. She's fantastic as Titania in The Shakespeare Suite and she's just danced the sisters in Beauty and the Beast and she was terrific. She's like a Disney cartoon, she's a fantastically strong personality on stage!

Momoko Hirata

All Claras first start out playing other characters while David considers them for the lead role, and Momoko is a perfect example, having previously played the part of the Rose Fairy and the Mirlitons.

'Every single one of our Clara's has come through Mirlitons, because Clara has to dance half of that piece,' explains David. 'In other productions it's just four girls but Peter [Wright] was very clever by keeping the choreography intact, but putting her at the centre of it all the way through.

'I could always imagine Momoko dancing Clara,' says David. 'She's also done Sugar Plum, so she's done what is in effect the harder technical role, and I knew that she could do that because she's got such an incredibly strong technique.

'There's enough room in this Company for anybody who is versatile to do all sorts of things,' states David, firmly. 'I don't limit the number of people that I can put down for a role, I'll use as many people as I can, and that's fantastic - as long as it plays to their own strengths and to the Company's strength.'

'I've seen versions of The Nutcracker where they've tried to do a new interpretation of Clara, but it never improves it. As I said, the important thing is that the dancer just shows her own personality, and all of these girls do that brilliantly.'

ENDS

Birmingham Royal Ballet is performing The Nutcracker at Birmingham Hippodrome, 28 November-13 December 2008. Click here for booking details.