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Historical Timeline
1776 E.T.A Hoffman, German Romantic Author, is born.
1816 Hoffman publishes his book The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
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1840 Tchaikovsky is born in Russia.
1844 Alexandre Dumas writes an adaptation of Hoffman’s novel: The Nutcracker, which will form the basis of the ballet.
1892 The Nutcracker Ballet premieres in December at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. Original choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
1893 Tchaikovsky dies at age 53.
1919 Bolshoi Ballet performs the first Nutcracker in Moscow.
1944 First American performance of The Nutcracker produced by the San Francisco Ballet.
1954 George Balanchine choreographs his full version of The Nutcracker and presents it with the New York City Ballet.
1958 New York City Ballet performs The Nutcracker live on national American television on Christmas Day.
Writing Exercise
What would happen if the ballet production of The Nutcracker were to be set in a different time period and a different location? Would the ballet look different? Would the characters behave differently?
