Thursday, November 18, 2010

School of the Arts puts on 'The Nutcracker'

By Shannon Nelson
Cardinal Staff

In light of the Christmas season, the Saint Mary’s University School of the Arts and the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts will be presenting The Nutcracker the first weekend of December.

The Christmas classic, based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s original story, explores the dreams that the main character, Clara, has about a nutcracker doll she receives from her Uncle Drosselmeyer. Throughout her dreams, Clara travels with the magical Nutcracker Prince to the Land of Snow and the Kingdom of the Sweets where the beautiful ethnic dances Spanish Coffee, Chinese Tea and Russian Baba are performed.

With a combination of 80 dancers from SMU, Winona State University and the Minnesota Conservatory of the Arts, the ballet is sure to impress the audience. Keep an eye out for the ten SMU students performing: Fallon Devine, Annie Garrigan, Matthew Kirk, Allie Kriz, Mary Mieszala, Phillip Soulides, Hannah Virpee, Lydia Feuerhelm, Claire Smart and Kaitlyn Vietor.

Tammy Schmidt, artistic director of The Nutcracker, hopes students will attend the performances to “support their fellow SMU students.” She also said it is a “great way to relieve pre-finals stress and is a classic Christmas tradition you won’t want to miss.”

Performances will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2 through Saturday, Dec. 4, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5 in the Page Theater. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. Be sure to grab your tickets soon because “the performance sells out quickly,” said Schmidt.

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