I’ve personally seen The Nutcracker at least 12 times now since my childhood. As you can probably imagine, viewing it 12 years in a row could get a little boring, but The Goh Ballet production this year was definitely something to write home about.

Featuring Principal Dancers from The National Ballet of Canada and a fresh take on choreography from Anna-Marie Holmes, my boyfriend and I were both blown away by Holmes’ sheer creative genius. From the sets to the costuming, each minute of the Goh Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker was breathtaking.

For those not familiar with this holiday story, The Nutcracker is a narrative ballet telling the story of little Clara’s Christmas adventure. Young Clara is given a nutcracker that breaks in a tussle with her brother, Fritz. When Clara falls asleep with the nutcracker in her arms, a magical world opens up to include a Mouse King and a journey to the Kingdom of Sweets, where Clara is greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and the inhabitants perform for them.

Children have been a part of The Nutcracker’s productions since it was first performed in 1892 in Russia, but under Holmes’ direction, she was able to bring a refreshing take on the children’s role in the ballet, and gave them an even greater presence on stage. Dressed from partygoers in the beginning scene to cute woodland creatures and young ballerinas throughout the magical fairy land in Nutcracker, the children had the audience’s minds and hearts the second they took the stage.

With so many amazing additions to this holiday classic, it’s hard to pick out a favourite moment or attribute in the production. From the addition of real magician’s tricks to Dr. Drosselmeyer’s role to the small children’s choir performing vocals for the ballet and the gymnasts in the Arabian set, Holmes set a whole new set of expectations for me with this particular production.

The best part about this local production, for me, was the fact that a lot of the supporting cast members were local – many of them were Goh Ballet School students! But don’t mistake this for a student production. While many of the cast members may not be at a professional level yet, they certainly brought an abundance of enthusiasm and youthful exuberance I’ll never forget.

Lesley Chang

Lesley Chang is a first year public relations student at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Richmond BC. An avid coffee drinker, starving college student, and frugal chef, she runs her own website at Starvingcollegegirl.com, where she’s currently trying to raise money for tuition (hint, hint!).

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