Vancouver’s Goh Ballet mounts a
Nutcracker sparkling with gay apparel
Symone’s brief but massively colourful part is
part of Goh Ballet’s entertaining Nutcracker
By Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun December 16, 2011
Goh Ballet: The Nutcracker
Six performances from tonight
Thursday, Dec. 15 to Sunday,
Dec.
18:
four
evening
performances are at 7:30 p.m.;
and two weekend matinees at 2
p.m.
The Centre in Vancouver for
Performing Arts
Tickets: $28 to $78 (plus taxes
and
service
charges)
ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-9852728
VANCOUVER — A few years ago,
Symone was the headline drag
performer at a West End
restaurant. One of the city’s top
drag
entertainers,
Symone
remembered being asked during a
break if she would consider playing
the role of Mother Ginger in Goh
Ballet’s
production
of
The
Nutcracker.
It’s not easy to surprise a seasoned drag performer like Symone. But that’s how she felt that night at
Delilah’s.
“When they asked me to be a part of the Nutcracker ballet, I looked like a deer in the headlights,” she
recalled. “ I said: ‘You know I’m not a dancer — and not a ballet dancer to be specific.’ ‘No no,’ I was told,
‘we’re just looking for facial expressions.’”
Symone might not be able to bourrée across the stage but she could certainly make her face dance. So
she said yes and became if not the first gender illusionist — as Symone describes herself — then one of
the very, very few ever to perform a role in the classic Christmas ballet.
She’ll be on stage as part of a cast of more than 200 local dancers as well as two professionals when the
Goh Ballet’s Nutcracker opens Thursday, Dec. 15 for six performances to Sunday, Dec. 18 at The Centre
in Vancouver for Performing Arts.
Symone — whose real name is Christopher Hunt — is only on stage for about five minutes in Act II but it’s
one of the crowd pleasing moments in a production filled with many of them. Her Mother Ginger always
generates applause because of the drama of her entry and the surprise that follows.
The applause starts as soon as Mother Ginger comes on in a massive skirt four metres in diameter. On
top of the gold and red ensemble, Symone wears a big Marie Antoinette wig. More fun follows when the
skirt opens and a corps of young dancer/gymnasts emerge from their hiding place in her costume.
“I give comedic drama and camp,” Symone said. “I’m the audience warmer-upper — except the
production has already started. I give the audience a chance to hoot and holler and applaud.”
Being Mother Ginger requires more than campy smiling. As Symone says, there’s a small element of
danger in playing the role. She has to balance on a kind of vertical cart with four wheels. Two stage
hands underneath her skirt guide her around the stage. She communicates with them by tapping her feet
in a kind of morse code.
Working as a drag entertainer in Vancouver, Symone generally plays larger than life figures such as
Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Ella Fitzgerald. Her traditional audience tends to be adults in restaurants or
night clubs not children and families for a Christmas ballet.
“I’m bridging the gap from the drag circuit which usually takes place in gay clubs to a lavish production,”
Symone said.
Now in her third year as Mother Ginger, Symone said she’s seen the youngsters from Goh Ballet and
other dance schools grow up and mature into what she describes as “absolutely magnificent” and
“beautiful” dancers.
“I have a lot of my friends coming out and they can’t believe that I’m, as a drag performer, I’m in a ballet.
They come to see the costumes and pomp and circumstance. I’ve told people who don’t like ballet to
‘Come and see and tell me what you think afterwards. I’ll refund your ticket if you don’t enjoy it.’ I haven’t
had to refund a ticket yet.”
Symone’s career in drag started by accident. When a scheduled trip to New York for Halloween to do
drag as a lark with a friend fell through, she decided to celebrate and wore her 1960s glam outfit to a local
gay club. Not only did she win the club’s costume competition, the club hired her as an entertainer a few
weeks later.
From that start, Symone established a second career. One of her most successful and long-running
performances was headlining a drag show at Doll & Penny’s in the West End for more than five years.
Symone has brought her nighttime and day-time worlds together. As Christopher Hunt, he’s an RBC
employee; but as Symone, she’s a company entertainer and this year alone has MC’d four awards
dinners for the bank.
“There are some people who have never seen drag before that think, ‘Why have I been missing this? This
is entertainment!’ I think how it ties into Nutcracker: it is all about amazing entertainment and dance. It
should not be missed.”
The Goh Ballet’s The Nutcracker is produced by Chan Hon Goh, former prima ballerina with the National
Ballet of Canada. The choreography is by Anna-Marie Holmes whose interpretations of Russian ballets
have been staged in more than 30 countries around the world. The former artistic director of Boston
Ballet, Holmes is in her 10th season as ballet program director of Jacob’s Pillow Dance, considered one
of the top dance festivals in the U.S.
The professional dancers in the cast are Cory Stearns, a principal with American Ballet Theatre in New
York, and Michele Wiles, a former dancer with the company.
Live music will be performed by members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
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