In what has become an annual holiday tradition, Les Ballets Classiques de Richmond is bringing its production of The Nutcracker back to Centennial Theatre this weekend. This year, however, the experience will be a little different.
“The Nutcracker has become much bigger,” said Cynthia Pigeon, the founder and teacher of the Richmond ballet school. “We are doing the whole thing this year.”
Over the course of the last five years, Pigeon said, the seasonal production has changed and grown. Where initially the school collaborated with the Cape Cod Dance Center on a partial production to help make up for the local dancers’ lack of experience, the group has now grown in skill and numbers to the point where the full ballet can be mounted.
The two-act performance, set to the music of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, tells the classic tale of a young girl, her beloved nutcracker, and their adventures in the land of sweets.
“There are a lot more students, and more invited professional dancers,” Pigeon said, sharing that there are 115 dancers involved in the show altogether, ranging in age from three to 70 years. “It has become a very large production.”
As a part of taking on more of the ballet for 2019, Pigeon shared that this will be the first year that she takes to the stage alongside her students in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. See full story in the Thursday, Dec. 12 edition of The Record.
