Royal City Youth Ballet’s current 30th-anniversary tour of The Nutcracker includes four performances in Surrey.
The annual production will hit Surrey Arts Centre’s main stage twice daily this Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 14-15), at 1 and 4 p.m.
This year’s cast features more than 70 dancers from across Metro Vancouver, including 18 from Surrey and 13 from Langley, all under the artistic direction of Camilla Fishwick-Kellogg.
For 2019, the Nutcracker tour began in Abbotsford on Nov. 24 and concludes at Massey Theatre in New Westminster on Dec. 22.
The ballet is set on Christmas Eve 1890 at Clara’s home, where her parents are hosting a party. After Clara’s grand-uncle, Herr Drosselmeyer, presents her with an enchanted Nutcracker toy soldier and the party ends, Clara falls asleep – and dreams.
Along with Clara, the audience is transported to a place full of magical soldiers, dueling mice, a Sugar Plum Fairy, dancing snowflakes, waltzing flowers, a Snow King & Queen and others, in a fantasy that moves to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s memorable Nutcracker score.
The featured Surrey dancers are Kathryn Weiss-Beach, Maria Mauro, Kiana Orr, Raine Sawatzky, Adriana Sankovic, Keira Bekar, Danielle Coyle, Avelyn Carbonetto, Kylie Anne Richards, Kaleigh Chretien, Isla Richardson, Mackenzie Phillipson, Lauren MacNeil, Azyra Stovern, Julia Cheng, Lucas Wheale, Mika Neuvonen and Olivia Briggs.
The show’s set is designed by Jean Claude Olivier, the costumes by Chris Sinosich.
More show details, including ticket information, can be found at royalcityyouthballet.org, or call 604-501-5566.
Since 1989, the New Westminster-based RCYB dance company has worked to bridge the gap between dance schools and professional companies.
The company is “a unique society of young people gathered together to do what they love to do – classical ballet,” explains a post on the website. “These youngsters attend weekly company classes at their individual dance schools and meet every weekend to attend company classes and rehearse full-length ballets such as Nutcracker, Cinderella and Coppelia. Students will grow and develop through exposure to many teaching styles and through opportunities for performance.”
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