'Nutcracker' 40th production celebrated at Chandler, Mesa venues this holiday season

Ballet Etudes brings The Nutcracker back to East Valley stages this holiday season, celebrating 40 years of the production with performances Nov. 27-Dec. 6 at Chandler Center for the Arts and Dec. 12-20 at Mesa Arts Center.

Tickets are on sale at chandlercenter.org and mesaartscenter.org.

The production will take place at 7 p.m. on Nov. 27,  at 2 and 7 p.m. on Nov. 28; at 3 p.m. Nov. 29;  at 7 p.m. Dec. 4; at 1 and 4:30 p.m.  Dec. 5 and at 3 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave.,  just north of downtown Chandler.

The production will also take place at 2 and 7 p.m. on Dec. 12; at 3 p.m. Dec. 13; at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 19 and at 3 p.m. Dec. 20 at the Mesa Arts Center's Virginia G. Piper Repertory Theater, 1 E. Main St., downtown Mesa.

Set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s score, The Nutcracker follows Clara on a Christmas Eve journey filled with larger-than-life mice, a winter wonderland, dancing confections and the sugar plum fairy.

Ballet Etudes’ full-length production brings the holiday classic to life with colorful costumes, choreography and dancers in a festive production.

Guest artists include former Ballet Arizona company members/Ballet Etudes Academy instructors Arianni Martin as the sugar plum fairy and Alejandro Mendez as Cavalier. Martin Gaxiola, artistic director and founder of Phoenix's Calo Flamenco will take the role of Drosselmeyer, with Kaleb Garcia performing as the Nutcracker Prince and Kleiton Sistelos in the role of Arabian and the Snow King.

They join Ballet Etudes company dancers, who train throughout the year in classical ballet technique and gain extensive stage experience through full-length productions.

This year’s cast includes Ellie Ball and Lyla Wahlbrink alternating in the role of Clara, Emma Ashby as the Mouse King, Whitney Dana and Sarah Girard as the Snow Queen, Hazel Sherwood and Whitney Dana as the Dew Drop Fairy, with Chloe Johnson and Mikayla Bryan performing the Spanish Dance in Act II in the Land of the Sweets.

Founded in 1986, Ballet Etudes has a unique history with both of the East Valley’s major performing arts centers. The company has presented The Nutcracker at Chandler Center for the Arts since the venue opened in 1989 and at Mesa Arts Center since it opened in 2005, making Ballet Etudes part of the story of both venues from their earliest days.

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