Royal Ballet star: If it wasn't for the Nutcracker, I might never have danced

William Bracewell, this year's Prince, told the Standard the Christmas favourite was the first ballet he ever saw 
Christmas magic: The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker
Tristram Kenton
David Ellis @dvh_ellis24 November 2017

One of the stars of the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker says the celebrated Christmas show was so instrumental in cultivating his career that he might not have been a dancer if not for seeing it as a child.

William Bracewell, 26, who takes to the Royal Opera House stage this December as the Sugar Plum Prince, told the Standard: “Nutcracker has played a part in my Christmas forever. I did my first production of it when I was eight – it was the very first ballet that I performed – and it was the first ballet I ever really saw, too.

“My mum bought me to the Royal Opera House to see it. She was like: ‘We’ll have a real treat and go and watch the Nutcracker,’ because she’d seen I was really passionate about this thing even at quite a young age.

“Would I have been a dancer if I hadn't come to see Nutcracker? Who knows? Who knows? All I know is, I got to see this absolutely world class level of performance and I remember walking out of the theatre going: ‘Wow, yeah, I could try to do that.’ At that age it feels so unachievable, you see these dancers doing these things you didn’t think we humanely possible and you go ‘Wow, wow! Imagine if I could do that!’ I guess now I am, which is really quite strange.

“So you know, it holds a really special place for me, especially at Christmas. I’ve done it so many times but I still love it. It’s one of those really, really beautifully opulent ballets.”

​Bracewell also said it was “absolutely insane, incredible” to be back at the Royal Opera House since last performing there as a student, seven years ago. The Welsh-born dancer said: “Because, you know, I’m from Swansea, I never thought I’d be dancing somewhere like this. It wasn’t something I thought was available to me. But because of the initiatives the Royal Ballet school set up, I was able to go to really, really high level classes once a month or once a fortnight to get the training to progress through the school and make it my profession. It’s all means tested so my parents didn’t have to be really wealthy… I’m pretty sort of standard man and it’s given me a lot of joy.”

Touching on the recent controversies surround opera and ballet – there has been substantial debate around the presentation of rape and sexual violence on stage, especially in older works – Bracewell said: “I would say, in general, we’ve moved on quite a long way from those times and maybe now it’s the responsibility of creative people to kind of find out what is relevant to new audiences.

“I guess it’s a question of: do you create work people want to see or do you create work that pushes boundaries. I’m not sure.”

The Nutcracker is on at the Royal Opera House from December 5 until January 10 2018, roh.org.uk. It will be broadcast live in cinemas across the country on December 5.