Ballet Austin always has something fascinating in store for all the ballet fans. Current attractions of the company include ‘The Nutcracker’. The holiday tradition production is as delightful for a regular theatre fan as for a first-timer at ballet performance. This incredibly entertaining piece of art is among those performances that transport the audiences into a magical world where dreams and reality become indistinguishable. Combining the untarnished record of spectacular performances by the ballet company and the favorable reviews about the play, it is no surprise that Ballet Austin tickets are in such high demand by the theatre and ballet fans.
The Company
With a rich history spanning almost six decades, The Ballet Austin Company continues to work with commitment to improving education as well as keeping alive the traditional form of ballet dancing. The internationally acclaimed institution is equally geared towards promoting the international craft of dance. The artistic director of the Ballet, Stephen Mills, always keeps the community, dancers and audiences involved in the workings of the organization. The ballet has 22 full-time dancers with professional excellence and amazing dancing talents recruited through an annual thirty-city audition tour.
Ballet Austin is the fifteenth largest classical ballet institution in the country and has the largest professional ballet training facility in the United States. It also has a Ballet Austin Academy which serves almost a thousand students annually. The apprentice company, Ballet Austin II, is another feature of the exemplary ballet institution. It provides an opportunity for post high school advanced dancers to polish and improve their dancing skills. Established since 1999, Ballet Austin II currently consists of eleven nationally emerging artists.
The Nutcracker
Originally choreographed by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, ‘The Nutcracker’ is a two-act ballet, adapted from Hoffman’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The play premiered in 1892 for the first time and received much acclaim, particularly for a score that was added by Tchaikovsky. Since the sixties however, the entire play has been able to gather and retain audiences’ attention. Uncountable ballet companies have held immensely successful performances of the play over the years, primarily over the Christmas seasons. Major American ballet companies have been reported to earn almost forty percent of their annual ticket revenues only from the sale of The Nutcracker tickets.
Story Sneak-peek
The play is about a family celebrating Christmas Eve and having a splendid Christmas tree, which is a spectacular delight for all the arriving guests. A local councilman and magician, Drosselmeyer, also shows up at the function with fascinating gifts for the children. Clara, the small girl of the family and protagonist of the play, receives a wooden Nutcracker shaped like a little man. She hides it from her brother Fritz fearing that he will break it out of sibling rivalry.
When everyone goes to bed at night, Clara goes to check on her beloved Nutcracker. At that moment the clock strikes midnight and things begin to turn magical. The Nutcracker becomes alive and so do the other toys. Clara finds herself in an incredibly magical world, a world that also absorbs the audiences into it as the story progresses. Rest of the plot is for the audiences to see for themselves and get hooked on the irresistible magic of the performance. Despite being a fairytale in essence the play is equally attractive to grownups as it is to children. Ballet Austin tickets is a perfect way to watch this remarkable ballet performance. The talents of the dancers in this company are certain to double the delight of this amazing production.