Concord’s Andy Dienes will partner with Eliza Davenport in the St. Paul’s School Ballet Company’s performance of “The Nutcracker” during a dance called Arabian.
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Several internationally known dancers join the cast, as well, including Ukrainian-born Arkadiy Orohovsky of the Kiev State Ballet as the Grinch, London Festival Ballet’s Thomas Snee as the Nutcracker and Sayako Tomiyoshi of Tokyo as the Sugarplum Fairy.
Mr. Lowe choreographed the new work, collaborating with his wife and associate artistic director, Sarah-Jane Measor, and his ex-wife and artistic associate, Julie Lowe, to craft the narrative and mount their company’s first full-length traditional ballet.
“This is an wonderful opportunity for those younger aspiring dancers to be on stage and share this moment with the professional dancers”, said Simone Orlando, artistic director and CEO of Ballet Kelowna.
“It is a tradition and a big part of Christmas”, she said, speaking of the ballet.
In 2002 Cady Cox was a high school student and member of the same junior repertory company for which she is now co-director.
The ballet dancers (boys and girls ages 3-18) are profiled; passionate people who, with their families, make incredible sacrifices of time and money just so that they may dance. He is saved by a guardian angel who shows him that what is important is not material presents but “the presence in the home of the people that you love”. Sponsored by Johnson County Bank, $10 Adv/$5 Door. “They have been really dedicated”. Her parents still appear as the Stahlbaums in the party scene.
“The Nutcracker” is a classical ballet in two acts with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Audience members will note a significant departure from standard “Nutcracker” productions when, in Act II, Moscow Ballet takes them not to the Land of candies but, rather, to The Land of Peace and Harmony. Her nutcracker fights the invading Mouse King and his minions to protect Clara and the household. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat; and it just isn’t a proper holiday season if you don’t catch at least one performance of The Nutcracker.
She admires his creativity.
“I left when I was 17, and I’m 32 now, and this is my first performance back in Vancouver”, she says, noting that members of her extended family have been snapping up tickets for opening night. “She’s more a ruler of the realm”.
Ballet Tucson’s rendition, which this year won “Best Dance Performance” in the Weekly’s Best of Tucson contest, hews closely to the original ballet. She has three roles: Claire’s brother Tommy, a snowflake and a flower.
Valiev conducted rehearsals for the annual ballet in August – he requires his students at Denton Ballet Academy to try out along with dancers from other studios and college dance departments – and cast about 180 dancers, ages 4 and older, in the ballet.
The elaborate show, with all its moving parts, involves more than 200 costumes.
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The show has grown from a few numbers from “The Nutcracker” by the academy’s advanced dancers to something that is now more than its source, which is reflected in this year’s title “A Maple Leaf Nutcracker”. “It’s one of the things I think of when I think of Christmas”. Tickets are available at the Crown Complex Box Office, Capefeartix.com and by calling 888.257.6208. Prices range from $28 to $55. But Ocala audiences get to see it first when the company performs Tuesday at the new Reilly Arts Center. The beloved ballet will take center stage at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater on Friday, December 11th at 7 p.m., Saturday, December 12th at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, December 13th at 2 p.m.
