After a year’s hiatus, The Nutcracker is back to enchant Calgary audiences at the new and improved Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium! For the fifth year in a row, Alberta Ballet has combined their talent with that of Ballet British Columbia to produce a total of twenty-three performances of The Nutcracker in Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Spokane and Vancouver. This will be the 20th year of production for The Nutcracker in Calgary.

Alberta Ballet’s Artistic Director, Jean Grand-Maitre provides the leadership for this production, and has joined with Boston Ballet’s Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen, known for his stunning choreography. Roger Lavoie’s rich touch is responsible for the magnificent set designs and designer Paul Daigle has created the exquisite costumes that outfit many of the beloved characters, including the Nutcracker Prince, Clara, the Snow Queen and King, Uncle Drosselmeyer and of course – the Sugarplum Fairy! The combination of this wide and varied talent brings this charmed ballet to life in splendid and luminous detail.

The Nutcracker is originally based on the book, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by German author E.T.A. Hoffman and was originally a dark and morbid story. In 1891, Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write the music for the ballet by legendary choreographer Marius Petipa. The music was successful far before the ballet even premiered after being released in March of 1892.

The Nutcracker ballet was first performed in Russia later in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre of Russia and was surprisingly met by unfavorable review. It was revived across Europe in the 1930’s and was not performed in North American until 1940 by the San Francisco Ballet, choreographed by W. Christensen. Today, over 400 productions of The Nutcracker are produced around the world every December, making it the most popular holiday production.

The magic of the holidays comes alive in this performance and this is a marked reason as to why Calgarians of all ages have made it a tradition year after year. Adding to the grandeur of the performance, 50 local children are hand-picked to participate in The Nutcracker each year. The opulence and magnificence of the sets and costumes make the performance larger than life – over $250,000 is spent on costumes alone – well over 16,000 hours of labour with 2,000 yards of wool, silk, taffeta and tutu netting imported from England. A typical Nutcracker production spends more money on the staging of the performance than most dancers make in a lifetime, causing it to be one of the most expensive performances to ever grace the stage!

The Nutcracker is entertainment for all ages and will delight the child in all of us. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and vary in price between $32 - $81.25. Calgary hosts The Nutcracker December 14-18 at 7:30pm and on December 17 and 18th at 2:00pm at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

Alberta Ballet and Ballet British Columbia invite you to begin your own holiday tradition, and experience the enchantment that is The Nutcracker.

Alberta Ballet Presents
The Nutcracker
At the Jubilee Auditorium
Dec. 14th-18th at 7:30pm
Dec. 17th and 18th at 2:00pm