The DC Traveler

Would you love to take your children to see the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center?  But do you hesitate thinking they might be too young to sit through a lengthy and formal production?  Then take them to a children’s performance of The Nutcracker.
American Dance Institute’s Youth Ensemble will perform a shorter version, just an hour long, of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Children an experience the magic of the story and dance in  less intimidating setting and more relaxed environment.
The performances will be held in the intimate 140-seat world-class facility, where children can get a close …read more

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In 1960, jazz master “Duke” Ellington and composer Billy Strayhorn (Take the A Train) worked on a jazzy, slightly campy, yet whimsical remake of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” ballet score. 
Momentum Dance Theater takes Ellington’s score and takes a twist on the classic Nutcracker ballet, with the Jazz, Hip-Hop Nutcracker.  They fast-forwarded the original story and dancing to 2006. The music combines both the reworked Ellington jazz, swing and blues Nutcracker score with current hip-hop and club music.  The dancing takes on other forms by combining jazz and hip-hop dance with breakdancers and Latin dances turing it into a high-energy, updated “urbal …read more

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The Nutcracker ballet that we know and love today with it’s Sugar-Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Snowflakes, has evolved and been adapted from the original classic Gernam story written in 1816, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. 
The Nutcracker Suite ballet is a story about a seven-year-old’s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, which comes alive on Christmas night and takes her to a magical kingdom of dancing dolls and toys that come alive after the nutcracker kills the Mouse King.

In 1844, Alexandre Dumas (writer of among other works, The Count of Monte Cristo,) adapted the original story and it was …read more

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