Concert Ballet of Virginia presents 40th season of “The Nutcracker”

The school has been dazzling audiences with its production since the 1970s and that includes when Jennifer Howard, who is now in her fourth year of directing the ballet company, was a student at St. Paul’s. The performers start preparing for this production in late summer.

This will be the sixth year that the company performs artistic director Graham Lustig’s version of the perennial favorite.

“Probably like a million years worth of Nutcracker”, says Joseph Watson, one of the dancers in the company.

“I’m here every day”, she said of Studio West. “If there were a dorm, I would sleep here”. “That makes it an especially exciting program”.

“She’s moved all the way through the ranks”, Cabana says. Fagan’s dream wasn’t to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy. With distinctive and distinguished designs by illustrator, author and theater designer Ian Falconer, PNB’s artist-in-residence, the two-act presentation shines fresh light on Balanchine’s heartfelt classic.

The Nutcracker is set in the 1800s. A young girl (named Clara or Marie, depending on the production) cherishes the wooden nutcracker she receives as a Christmas present.

“You can do, can see “The Nutcracker” time and time again”, she added.

“The Nutcracker” is based on the “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” by E.T.A. Hoffman. Clara intervenes, saves the Nutcracker and baum-baum-baum, turns out he’s a prince.

Told over two acts, this much-loved fairy tale has it all, not least a score to die for, breathtaking dance routines and a delightfully surreal plot somewhere between The Snowman and Alice In Wonderland. Here, the Sugar Plum Fairy listens to their adventures and hosts a festival for her guests. Joining Grace Anne on the stage is her father, Brian. Clara and the prince are delighted and impressed. From the 8-year-old running out from under Mother Ginger’s skirts, to the principal dancer inhabiting the lead role, to the choreographer animating the dance: this rejuvenated Nutcracker has been incubating in her imagination for years.

And the joy of the performance had Vacca back on her feet immediately after the final show ended.

Jenna Kahwash, 14, has been dancing as a student at the Charleston Ballet since she was 4. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and Bergen PAC in Englewood. Marcelo Martinez was her Cavalier.

Turkel began her ballet training at Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, North Carolina. Previously, he trained at companhia Jovem do Teatro Mumicipal do Rio de Janerio and the Washington Ballet. Megan Steffens, an up-and-coming ballerina recruited from California a season ago, will dance Sugar Plum on Friday and Sunday. Shiffer is from Budapest, Hungary and graduated from the Hungarian Dance Academy.

The audience will recognize the snow scene and familiar Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Russian, and Danish sequences, but will find a fresh divertissement in the English dance. The “Jewel” in “Waltz of the Flowers” is danced by April Glasper or Deprecia Simpson.

“When I was 9, I was in my first Nutcracker”.

Completely messing with the classic looks of the ballet is out of the question, too, because fans would riot. He is in his first season with Ballet San Antonio.

George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker discount tickets are available for the performance on December 28, 2015 at the Mccaw Hall in Seattle, WA and for the other dates leading to this final performance. And none in the modern era has solved them more lucidly or entertainingly than veteran producer and former Birmingham Royal Ballet director Peter Wright.

LDC’s “Nutcracker” has always been a family affair with siblings, parents, children and even grandparents either appearing on stage together or working behind the scenes. The performances at the Bowie Center are at 7 p.m. December 5 and 3 p.m. December 6.

Tickets for the VIP package cost $250 for adults and $200 for children.