A Ballet Life

There are plenty of cute books about The Nutcracker that you could add to your holiday shelves, but if you’re like me, there will be a nagging sensation that one important volume is missing. Where’s the book about the stagecraft of the production and the energy of being backstage? The book capturing the nervous thrill of a young dancer about to step into the snow sprinkled spotlight for the first time? That’s where John Allman’s The Night Before The Nutcracker comes in.

For many of us, the holidays are full of traditions that we hold dear. Steaming mugs of hot chocolate sipped by the fireside, using glittering rolls of wrapping paper to ever so clumsily encase a last minute purchased gift, and of course, curling up in the seats of a cozy theater to be dazzled by The Nutcracker once again. But one tradition that hits closer to the heart than all of these, is that of coming back home. A tradition that choreographer Nicole Haskins is embodying in a uniquely balletic way this holiday season.

When George Balanchine staged The Nutcracker for New York City Ballet in 1954, it was the six-year-old company’s most ambitious project to date…

The Washington Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is more than a Washington holiday tradition. The ballet that premiered 130 years ago…

Image courtesy of Ventana Ballet. For the fifth consecutive year, Ventana Ballet and Red Nightfall

Say hello to a theater-going experience that makes neurodiverse audiences and small children feel welcome to experience ballet in a fun, accepting environment.

While it is often the whimsical beauty of ballet that first inspires us to fall in love with this artform, sometimes it is the dramatically dark performances that keep us coming back for more.