Photo courtesy of Andrea Cook
Waltz of the Snowflakes: (back row, from left) Heather Qian, Grace Reidenbaugh, Chloe Shulsinger, Ava Urben, Meredith Rainhart, Katrina Raab and Nicole Shortle; (middle row, from left) Ana Victoria Smith, Mazeray Bayha, Hazel Lindquist, Amy Martin and Madeleine Gambardella; and (front row, from left) Katie Brescia, Elizabeth Workman, Stephanie Murphy, Clare Yee and Teresa Seraphin.
The Fairfax Ballet Co. (FBC) presents an all-new holiday experience with its virtual performance, “Nutcracker: Dancing in the City.” The timeless production was filmed in various locations in Fairfax City’s Historic District and will be streamed online, Dec. 20-Jan. 3.
One of the beloved traditions of the holidays is seeing a production of the Nutcracker ballet. In Berks County and the Lehigh Valley, we are fortunate to have several performed every year. This year, however, is a little different, with arts venues closed because of COVID-19 concerns, so ballet companies are getting creative and recording video of their productions so they can present them virtually.
This is the 52nd production of the classic ballet and it is the longest running Nutcracker in the Lehigh Valley. The production features more than 60 professional, pre-professional and student performers.
Guest artists this year are Oksana Maslova as Sugar Plum Fairy and Sterling Baca as her Cavalier. Both are principal dancers with Pennsylvania Ballet of Philadelphia.
Rosemary Harris.
Conceived and created safely for the COVID-19 era, the production is a collaboration among more than 300 students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Dance of the Snowflakes from overhead in UNCSA s new The Nutcracker for film, released Dec. 17.
Snowflake dancing masked in UNCSA s all-new The Nutcracker for film, Dec. 17. Credit Peter J. Mueller.
The film represents the 55th consecutive year UNCSA has presented The Nutcracker, and the first ever film version reaching audiences worldwide. Leveraging the institution s unique position as a conservatory with five nationally recognized arts schools, the classic work was adapted through the imagination and expertise of the schools of Dance, Design & Production, Filmmaking and Music.
Vermont Ballet Theater School closed shop in March as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Vermont, but the group has worked to keep its students dancing, providing 10 weeks of online courses in the spring â with dancers practicing in their own homes.
In-person training resumed in July, according to a press release, and the question on everyoneâs mind was, âWhat about the Nutcracker?â
Every December since 2005, Vermont Ballet Theater has brought âVermontâs Own Nutcrackerâ to the stage, often selling out the 1,400-seat Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.
That, of course, couldnât happen this year.
Artistic director Alexander Nagiba decided to hold Nutcracker auditions and rehearsals.
Nothing says holiday tradition around town like making your way down to the Wortham Theater Center to see
The Nutcracker each year. Well, it’s anything but a normal year, but despite living in a post-COVID world, the Houston Ballet and Artistic Director Stanton Welch have attempted to make lemonade within the lemon-tations of the year in the form of
Nutcracker Sweets. The hour-long mixed repertory makes the necessary move to cyberspace, with a program featuring two new works from Welch, a new work spotlighting Houston Ballet II and Students of Houston Ballet Academy, and an abbreviated version of
The Nutcracker culled together from footage taken in 2018.