Hansel & Gretel and The Nutcracker Reimagined in Ballet Academy of Indonesia’s Annual Performance
The Ballet Academy of Indonesia (“TBA”) breathes new life into two beloved works from the 19th century in its 2025 Annual Performance. The double show, comprising “Hansel & Gretel” and “The Nutcracker, Clara’s Night of Wonders”, proves that the most enduring stories transcend their time, when reimagined with fresh eyes, modern sensibilities and a commitment to making them resonate anew.
The first preserves the timeless wisdom of the Brothers Grimm’s tale, its themes as relevant today as they were two centuries ago. The second transforms a winter fantasy into an exhilarating local celebration, trading snow-dusted European villages and western gazes on Asia with vibrant city streets thrumming with life and familiar traditions that authentically reflect our diverse community. The Land of Sweets is reimagined as an Asian Night Market with the flavors of home; jewel-like treats that conjure a wistful nostalgia shared across generations.
Together, the double show asks: Which elements of our cherished classics are eternal, and which are ripe for reinvention?
Grimm’s “Hansel & Gretel” is an unflinching look at some of today’s most pressing hardships: poverty, hunger, abandonment, and the primal fear of being lost, alone in a hostile world. These themes echo powerfully in a city no stranger to such struggles, where, like the children, resilience and resourcefulness are woven into its very soul. TBA’s “Hansel & Gretel” is a loving reminder that even in the face of darkness, hope can be forged through courage, ingenuity, and community.
Leading this production are Rafael Demetrio Banyubiru and Timur Laut, two gifted young dancers whose partnership embodies the story’s heart. At just eight years old, Rafael’s technical precision and playful athleticism demonstrate what the dance world gains when stereotypes about nurturing male ballet dancers fall away. He is perfectly matched by Timur’s equally precocious talent and musical intuition.
They’re joined by TBA’s youngest and oldest dancers alike. Children animate the woods, transforming into trees, creatures, and stars, while intrepid adult dancers take on the whimsical challenge of embodying irresistible confections.
In nurturing performers across genders and generations, TBA leads the local ballet community through its own rite of passage, boldly expanding who takes center stage and redefining what classical stories can mean to a new generation.
TBA’s reimagining of “The Nutcracker “offers its own answer, at once heartfelt and daring, choreographed to awaken audiences to the wonders just steps away in their neighborhood.
Where others have tiptoed cautiously around tradition, reverent to the classic ballet’s iconic imagery, TBA leaps beyond with a wild, electrifying spectacle that blazes across the stage in an explosion of color, texture and chaotic energy. From Clara’s home to the fantasy-like Night Market, the production crackles with a refreshing wonder and the fierce, eclectic vitality of Asia itself. There is the sizzle of street Hawkers’ woks at dawn, the heady swirl of spices in night markets illuminated by Lanterns, the sweet embrace of Boba Tea, Coffee and Milk, the refined, yet playful desserts like Lapis Cakes, and the ubiquitous Street Cats fed and cared for by an entire neighborhood. Gone is the gentle Snow Scene, replaced by a thunderous, tropical downpour. These Raindrops drum on tin roofs, flooding streets, sending everyone scrambling and huddling under awnings and shopfronts.
Clara, danced by Jacinta Keisha Almira, moves through this world with the scrappy determination of an Asian city kid, street-smart, resourceful, and endlessly adventurous. Technically assured, yet plucky and bold, the spirited dancer embodies choreography that swaps demure steps with strong-willed gestures and the sure-footed confidence of someone who moves through bustling sidewalks with fearless ease.
The Warrior Toy is an inspired surprise. A Shaolin master, Sifu Victor Liu, performs acrobatic moves, perfectly matched with the music, to lend the segment an entirely new dimension of energy and virtuosity.
Rooted in its vibrant, multiracial community, TBA’s “Nutcracker” doesn’t ask audiences to escape into some distant fairy tale. Instead, it invites them somewhere far more magical: into the extraordinary beauty of their local culture, into the warmth of their own memories, into the family traditions and lived experiences that make them who they are. Here, the Asian wonders are neither novelty nor decoration but living forces that define the production itself.
Ballet includes everyone. This is the production’s deepest conviction. If “The Nutcracker” can be reimagined to reflect our neighborhoods, lives, and community, then ballet is not a distant European art form but something shared by those who learn it, teach it, dance it, and watch it. This Nutcracker unfolds as a kaleidoscopic spectacle, dazzling, layered, and alive, showing what ballet can become when it embraces the full spectrum of ages, backgrounds, and stories within the communities it thrives within.
Founded in 2017 by Anindya Krisna, The Ballet Academy of Indonesia is a non-profit dance institution dedicated to nurturing dancers of all ages through high-quality classical ballet and modern dance education. With over 120 students across its Jakarta and Bumi Serpong Damai branches, the Academy provides a supportive and inclusive environment for both professional and recreational dancers.
The two performances will take place at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on Sunday, 30 November at 11 AM (Hansel & Gretel) and 4 PM (The Nutcracker).
