THE NUTCRACKER BALLET presented by Vail Friends of Dance

Experience the magic of The Nutcracker Ballet!

Vail Friends of Dance presents dancers from the Vail Youth Ballet Company and Vail Valley Academy of Dance in an incredible performance of this classic holiday production.

The holiday tradition of the “Nutcracker” comes to life with beautiful performances, spectacular costumes and mesmerizing backdrops. The classic story follows Clara on a magical journey with the Nutcracker prince from the Christmas Eve party, battle between soldiers and Mouse Queen’s army to the Land of the Snowflakes and the Land of Sweets.  Here, Clara and the Prince are welcomed by the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy, with rewards of beautiful gifts and celebrations of dances from around the world. Clara awakens from her dream at home with exciting and beautiful memories of her journey with her Nutcracker Prince.

This high-level local production features incredible artistry, breathtaking dancing, beautiful costumes and colorful sets that are on-par with performances seen from large scale “big city” studios.

The dedicated dancers have been rehearsing since mid-September, spending long hours during the week and weekends perfecting their dances. Artistic director, Ashley Calligan, continues the spirit of the show and its traditions, and instituted some new characters and stage designs to bring new excitement into the traditional performance.

Professional guest dancers will accompany local dancers with  Michael Stone performing as the Cavalier and Nathan Crewe-Kluge dances as the Nutcracker Prince. In addition, members from the community participate as Drosselmeyer , Party Parents and Mother Ginger.

Background of Vail Youth Ballet Company & Vail Valley Academy of Dance: The Vail Youth Ballet Company provides those students at Vail Valley Academy of Dance additional training and performance opportunities. Company dancers are selected through an audition process, representing advanced students who choose to pursue their dance study at a higher level. Some company dancers take their training to the next professional level upon graduating.

The Vail Valley Academy of Dance has been in operation since 1989 and is Eagle County’s premier dance instruction school, offering the most complete multi-talent dance instruction anywhere in the valley. Teachers offer a variety of discipline instructions from different parts of the world, with different specialties ranging from Classical Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Tap Dance, Jazz, Hip Hop and many other fields of study.

The Nutcracker performances are under the artistic direction of Ms. Ashley Calligan, who casts and choreographs the Vail Youth Ballet Company dancers as the lead roles in exciting performances.

Ms. Calligan trained at The Academy of Colorado Ballet, The Academy of Russian Ballet, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre. While dancing she performed numerous roles including; Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Soloist in Paquita, Spanish in The Nutcracker, and many original works by Elizabeth Shipiatsky, Robert Royce, Angela Whitehill, and Thom Clower.  She is currently in her 17th year as the Assistant to the Artistic Director and Ballet Mistress with Burklyn Ballet Theatre.

Photo credit: Brian Maloney Photography
Presented by: @vailfriendsof dance and @vailvalleydance.