Events Calendar

Nutcracker Ballet at the Arlington

Sunday, December 13, 2015, 02:30pm

“Nutcracker At The Arlington" Waltzes into its Fifth Decade

Santa Barbara Festival Ballet presents Nutcracker at The Arlington, with Live, Full Symphony Orchestra - Elise Unruh, Conductor.
Three Performances – Saturday, Dec 12th at 2:30pm and 7pm, Sunday, Dec 13th at 2:30pm
Arlington Theatre Box Office, 1317 State Street, Santa Barbara
805-963-4408 or www.ticketmaster.com
Group Tickets Contact Lori @ 805-331-2287 
Saturday Eve Reception & Alumni Gala Contact Julie at 805-966-0711

Santa Barbara Festival Ballet presents Nutcracker at The Arlington, with Live, Full Symphony Orchestra – Elise Unruh, Conductor. Featuring Professional Guest Artists: Michele Wiles, Principal Dancer/Founder NYC’s BalletNext, (Sugar Plum Fairy), Russell Janzen Soloist with New York City Ballet, (Cavalier), Tracy Kofford, Artistic Director of Dance SBCC (Arabian Cavalier), and Santa Barbara Festival Ballet’s own returning guest alumnus Chelsea Cambron, winner of the Contemporary Award at the 2011 Cecchetti International Classical Ballet Chelsea holds the Maestro Enrico Cecchetti Diploma and recently worked as a dancer with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines aboard Jewel of the Seas, traveling from the Caribbean to Alaska and the Pacific Coast, she expanded her range with jazz and Broadway-style dance performance.

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One day in 1974 renowned Santa Barbara Symphony conductor Ronald Ondrejka approached American Ballet Theater Alums Bob and Carol Hanlin. Their small powerhouse of a ballet school was rocking the regional dance world, and Maestro Ondrejka had a simple question, but a big idea; would the Hanlins like to partner with the SB Symphony and turn the town on its ear with a Nutcracker to end them all? 

The Hanlins, as will be seen again this December 12 and 13, thought it just might work. It has, for over four decades.

"I've been associated with this production of The Nutcracker for most of its history,” Conductor Unruh says, “first as a musician in the orchestra and subsequently as the conductor. It has become the official start to my own holiday season. “

This holiday season, over three performances – Saturday, Dec 12th at 2:30pm and 7pm, Sunday, Dec 13th at 2:30pm, Maestra Unruh and a cast of over 100 will once again fill the perpetual twilight of the legendary Arlington Theater house with music and color and symphonic vibration to set the senses reeling. 

The Nutcracker at the Arlington features professional guest artists Michele Wiles, Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Dancer of New York City’s BalletNext (Sugarplum Fairy), Russell Janzen, Soloist with New York City Ballet and 2015 recipient of the Clive Barnes Award for outstanding new performer (Cavalier), Tracy R. Kofford, Artistic Director of Dance SBCC, national and international performer of his own work and that of contemporary dance innovators Jennifer Muller/The Works (Arabian Cavalier), Competition in Manchester, England and a dancer with the Louisville Ballet. Rounding out this cast of dozens will be dancers from the UCSB Department of Dance. 

In 1890, the great success of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty compelled the Director of the Russian Imperial Theaters to commission the composer to write a ballet, with his Sleeping Beauty partner Marius Petipa again selecting the source material. To Tchaikovsky’s delight, the esteemed choreographer and arguable father of Russian classical dance chose for the ballet’s theme E.T.A. Hoffman’s thrilling and strange tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Tchaikovsky knew the wild fantasia would lend itself to a great rhapsodic score, and it did. These soaring Nutcracker melodies are among the most beloved in the classical canon, and for good reason. When that lush musical gossamer is being woven by a live Symphony Orchestra, you have an evening of rare, transformative magic. 

Now celebrating its 41st Anniversary (even as Santa Barbara Festival Ballet itself celebrates its 51st!), The Nutcracker at the Arlington has the distinction of being one of the longest continuously-running productions of Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous ballet in the United States with full symphony orchestra accompaniment. Nutcracker at the Arlington has in its time seen generations of our neighbors and friends swirl beneath the grand Arlington proscenium to Tchaikovsky’s stirring melodies, performing alongside SBFB Company dancers, SBFB Dance Conservatory students, and renowned guest artists from around the country. 

As the curtain rises, the expansive Arlington stage is already in full, joyous motion, jostling with celebrants, the giddy party scene aglow with music and color and dance. The joy is infectious. This is YOUR holiday party, and the air around you is astir with vibratory symphonic beauty. Herr Drosselmeyer soon arrives with tricks up his sleeve and a handful of amazing mechanical dolls which come to life and dance before the unbelieving eyes of all, including a young girl named Clara (Alexa Hellman) who is about to be changed forever. When the mischievous Herr Drosselmeyer produces his penultimate gift, a beautiful Nutcracker (Christopher Carmona), Clara is smitten. What follows will bedazzle the audience as it does Clara herself. You won’t believe your eyes as a gigantic festive tree grows to towering heights onstage, and you’ll marvel as an army of balletic rats swarms the stage to do battle with high-flying Tin Soldiers, a battle punctuated by the firing of an onstage cannon by an unlikely “Artillery Rabbit”. When the stunned Clara is swept off her feet and into the Kingdom of Sweets by her living Nutcracker Prince, the wonders that befall her will befall you, as well. 

“It is an honor to provide our Central Coast communities with the full cultural experience of the classic ballet The Nutcracker , with Tchaikovsky’s music played by a full symphony orchestra, all under the stars of our historic Arlington Theater,” Denise Rinaldi, Artistic Director. 

Adds Conductor Unruh, “The wonderful Tchaikovsky score and the opportunity to collaborate with the talented dancers and choreographers combine to create a joyful experience for me that I hope our audiences experience as well." 

For Tickets: Call Arlington Box Office 805-963-4408 or www.ticketmaster.com 
Group Tickets Contact Lori @ 805-331-2287 
Saturday Eve Reception & Alumni Gala Contact Julie at 805-966-0711. 

Sunday, December 13, 2015

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