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ASHTABULA — The 2024 production of “The Nutcracker” by Ballet Theatre Ashtabula opens Friday, Dec. 6 at the Ashtabula Arts Center.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of BTA’s production of “The Nutcracker.”
“We’re so happy to continue the Nutcracker tradition,” Ashtabula Arts Center Dance Director Clover Robinson said in a press release. “It’s brought magic to generations of performers and audiences alike. Shelagh Dubsky [former AAC Director of Dance] created our ‘Nutcracker’ as it exists today because she believed in performance as a tool of education, for dancers’ development. And as our school grew, the production grew. From a teaching standpoint, it provides students an annual investment in their dancing. It helps build their skills and confidence. We would not have the pre-professional level of company we do today without this annual production.”
Robinson was a BTA dancer from a young age.
“I was a bonbon in the very first ‘Nutcracker’ production,” she said in the release. “It was put on at Columbus Junior High. I participated in every ‘Nutcracker’ until I graduated high school, and then came back multiple times to perform. My husband performed with me in the party scene when we were still dating in the mid-90s.”
In her years as a teacher and director, Robinson has seen many dancers grow up with BTA, and with ‘The Nutcracker,’ going from tiny party guests, angels, and mice to the Snow Queen, Grand Pas de Deux and Sugar Plum Fairy, according to the release. She said it’s bittersweet when they graduate.
“They’ve been part of our family,” she said in the release. “But it’s wonderful to see them in these advanced roles and in their element on stage. Their leaving is a loss here that we’ll grieve, but it’s also such an exciting time for their futures. And the cool thing is the door is never shut to them; we’re always here, and our dancers come back to train, to perform, to teach – to stay connected.”
Tickets are available by calling 440-964-3396 or at ashtabulaartscenter.org.
Tickets may be purchased at the door if seats are available.
There will be a special event, the Ruby Reception, on Saturday, Dec, 7 at 4 p.m., immediately following the matinee performance.
Tickets to the reception are $10. There will be appetizers, desserts and a cash bar.
The 2024 production of “The Nutcracker” runs Dec. 6-8, 13-15, and 19-22. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets for the Dec. 19 performance are half when you donate non-perishable food items to the Faith Food Pantry.
Half-price tickets must be purchased and donations dropped off at the Arts Center front desk, and expired items will not be accepted.
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