The Nutcracker Suite Dancers are characters who appear in the "Nutcracker Suite" segment of the film, Fantasia.
Background[]
There are five separate groups of dancers that perform the dance. They appear in order of their role in the segment:
- The Sugar Plum Fairies, or Fairies, are tiny creatures that have control over nature. They appear in the form of tiny little women with a single color on them according to their abilities, with leathery wings. They are completely naked like the cupids in "the Pastoral Symphony".
- Hop Low and the Dancing Mushrooms: A group of six small mushrooms of varying sizes, with the smallest being a mushroom named Hop Low. They have Asian-inspired designs, red caps, and white cloaks. Hop Low's name is never mentioned in the program but mentioned in the film's theatrical trailer and also gave to Hop Low the nickname Dopey of the mushrooms.
- The Dancing Flowers are based on the blossoms. They play a similar role to that of the Dancing Mushrooms, coming to life due to the fairies' magic.
- The Goldfish are the only ones who do not strictly dance but swim around accompanied by the music.
- The Dancing Thistles and the Dancing Orchids: These dancers are flowers who take the form of human dancers. The Dancing Thistles take the form of Cossacks and the Dancing Orchids take the form of peasant girls.
Appearances[]
Fantasia[]
In the Nutcracker Suite segment of the film, the fairies appear to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. The first to perform are the Dewdrop Fairies, who make dewdrops in flowers and webs. When they are done, they are followed by the Summer Fairies, who change the season to summer. After they have woken up and gone away, another type, the Autumn Fairies, makes the leaves fall and change color. Next are the Frost Fairies who wake up, and ice the lakes and rivers. The last are the Snowflake Fairies who fall to Earth, making snow. The fairies of summer, autumn, and winter dance the Waltz of the Flowers, which is the last dance of this segment.
The next part begins with a charming dance sequence of six mushrooms plus an adorably tiny featured mushroom named Hop Low who is out of step with the rest of the group and steals the show. They are dancing the Chinese Dance with Hop Low always missing steps. The dance ends when the mushrooms resume their inert shape as the lights go out, with Hop Low the last to follow.
The following group consists of flowers dancing the Dance of the Reed Flutes. These flowers dance in a river leading by a white flower and make a circle around it. Finally, they all fall from a waterfall and make bubbles.
In the water, the Goldfish are found dancing, or at least swimming to, the Arabian Dance. The goldfish, in the beginning, is alone, but later many other different colored fish join in. They jointly finish with tail moves and making bubbles.
In the final part of the segment, the Dancing Thistles and Dancing Orchids perform the Russian Dance. In the beginning, many thistles with different color series dance together, and after dancing the orchids again with the same colors, and finally, the thistles and the orchids dance in couples as they become flowers.
The Wonderful World of Disney[]
In the Disneyland episode "Adventures in Fantasy", one of the inanimate objects brought to life is one of the Dancing Mushrooms, presumably Hop Low, who has an encounter with another animated inanimate object from Fantasia, one of the Magic Brooms.
House of Mouse[]
The Dancing Mushrooms appear in the episode "Humphrey in the House," where Humphrey planned to eat them until J. Audubon Woodlore discovered the robotic Humphrey that was cleaning the club for the real one.
Other appearances[]
The Dancing Mushrooms, Orchids, and Thistles make cameos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in the latter group's case they are seen on the wallpaper of a Toontown hotel. The Mushrooms also make a cameo in It's a Small World: The Animated Series.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Fantasia (2).jpg (10 KB)")
