first act with the dancers carrying torches. (Souritz 116) The second act was also changed to be more dramatic. The swans ran in circles and in confused flocks, in a way contemporary critics found intolerable. The Nutcracker It was Gorsky who first thought of turning the fantasy scenes in The Nutcracker into a dream from which Clara awakens at the end. In the original ballet and the story on which it is based, they really occur. Gorsky also changed the story so that the roles of Clara and the Nutcracker/Prince would be danced by adults, rather than children, thereby making the relationship between the two characters a romance rather than just a friendship. Usually Vasili Vainonen receives all the credit for these changes, but it was Gorsky who first thought of them. References Further reading Alexander Gorsky, American Ballet Theater 1871 births 1924 deaths Russian male ballet dancers Choreographers of Bolshoi Theatre Mariinsky Ballet principal dancers