You are here

Toys, Skaters, and Snowflakes

Toys, Skaters, and Snowflakes

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and this year the talented Evanston Dance Ensemble will be dancing the “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” the piece at the end of the first act of the ballet where the Nutcracker prince leads Clara through the moonlit forest as they travel to his kingdom, the Land of Sweets. The familiar favorite will feature the Evanston Children’s Choir.

In addition, the Evanston Dance Ensemble will be dancing to “March of the Toys” from Babes in Toyland, an operetta composed by Victor Herbert, and “A Charleston Christmas,” a Roaring '20s piece complete with colorful costumes (and the Charleston dance, of course!) by James M. Stephenson.

We are delighted to welcome back another Evanston dance group who joined us for the first time last year, Chicago Ballet Arts, to dance “The Skaters Waltz” by Charles Émile Waldteufel. Also known as Les Patineurs, the piece was inspired by a rink of skaters at the Bois de Boulogne park in Paris. Chicago Ballet Arts will also be dancing to “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson, featuring classic holiday tunes.

Both dance groups, Evanston Dance Ensemble and Chicago Ballet Arts, will be accompanied by the Evanston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director, Lawrence Eckerling.