Residents needing to get their fix of the holiday classic "The Nutcracker" shouldn't have a problem finding a performance.
Two dance groups will perform "The Nutcracker" in Livingston County this holiday season.
The Brighton Center for the Performing Arts will host a performance of "The Nutcracker" ballet, featuring a guest dancer from Russia. The ballet will be performed Saturday, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., and Sunday, 3:30 p.m., at the BCPA, located at Brighton High School.
Another version of the ballet is also coming to the county the following weekend.
The ballet is presented by the Fountain Dance Ministry (formerly the Brighton City Ballet), and will take the stage at the Jane Tasch Performing Arts Theatre in Pinckney on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 16 at 2 p.m.
"If they have never been to
a ballet, this would be the best one to come to," said Deborah Shiposh, a teacher at Fountain Dance Ministry.
She said people who don't normally attend ballet will enjoy "The Nutcracker."
" 'The Nutcracker' just appeals to all ages," said Shiposh. "It's not a dry ballet. It's colorful, captive and loud."
Shiposh said she's been helping direct "The Nutcracker" performances since 1986 with the Fountain Dance Ministry and retired from this task in 2005. Her daughter, Katrina Frelich, and Debbie Tweedie, decided to take up the task, and Shiposh found herself helping once again.
"It is a big production," she said. She said there are just under 100 performers in the show.
She said Laura Valentin and Armando Seda, two professional dancers from Puerto Rico, will handle the principal roles.
"It's going to be the same great performance it always is," Shiposh said.
Genoa Township resident Sergey Rayevskiy, owner of the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet, said the public response was so positive to its Nutcracker performance last year that they decided to bring it back.
The academy's dancers will be joined on stage by several international guest artists, including
Anton Korsakov, first soloist of the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In addition to making the choreography more traditional, Rayevskiy said they've doubled the number of performers on stage from the previous year. He said the performance will feature 80-90 people instead of 40-50.
Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Jim Totten at (517) 548-7088 or at
jtotten@gannett.com.
Livingston Daily
