Entertainment
'The Nutcracker' comes to Greenville Nov. 27
By Greenville Chamber of Commerce
Nov 26, 2009

The Classic Russian Nutcracker ballet is coming to Greenville’s Municipal Auditorium with three performances over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Beginning with a dress rehearsal on Friday, November 27, audiences will be able to witness the grandeur of the world’s most popular ballet performed by members of the Gold Medal-winning Saint Petersburg Classic Ballet Theater of Marina Medvetskaya, also featuring local talent. The performance is choreographed by Peggy Willis-Aarnio of Willis Ballet and produced in cooperation with Harmonic Motion Ballet of Rockwall.

Tickets for the dress rehearsal are only $10, with prices for the November 28 and November 29 main performances ranging from $19 to $39, plus a small processing fee. The Saturday, November 28 performance begins at 7:30 pm. The Sunday, November 29 matinee starts at 2:30 pm.

Approximatelyl 40 area children will be featured in the production, coming from Greenville, Rockwall, Heath, Royse City, Quinlan and Caddo Mills.

 
Dance Schools participating are:  Dance Variations, Rockwall; Academy of Dance, Theatre and Music, Greenville; Danceworks, Greenville,; Jazzy's Taps n Toes, Quinlin; and  Harmonic Motion School of Classical Ballet, Rockwall.
 
Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1891. It gained popularity in the West, especially in the United States beginning in the 1950s as it was adapted to movie and television performances. It has been a Christmas mainstay for generations.

Versions of the ballet as produced by Willis Ballet since the 1990s have drawn rave reviews. The New York Times called it “well staged” and “beautifully costumed.”

“The high level of dancing was also a great pleasure, particularly in its authority and a classical purity that is rare today in American Ballet,” wrote Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times, in a 1999 review.
In Saint-Augustine, Florida a performance staged by Willis Ballet produced these comments. You gave us “a taste of what the great Russian dance companies are famous for: Perfection in form, style, imaginative choreography, timing and a true visual delight.  We are forever grateful to you for bringing them.”

A performance in Washington state brought this review:
“Thank you for helping us find and present the Saint-Petersburg Ballet Theatre.  What a magical performance!  The dancers were exquisite and the classical numbers were flawlessly executed.  I have never seen such athleticism and control before.  I was unprepared for the stunning beauty of Russian ballet. I literally had to remind myself to breathe several times during the intense dances.”   
 
Peggy Willis-Aarnio served as Professor of Classical Ballet at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she also founded the Conservatory of Classical Ballet in 1979. Later operating as the Peggy Willis Dance Company,  (originally, a semi-professional performing company, now a professional performing company with its base, now, in Panama City Beach, Florida) had its premiere performance in the Spring of 1983 in Panama City, Florida, at the Marina Civic Center Theatre. The company has performed on tour in Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, as well as on a very special Tour to England in 1987.

The initiative to expand performing and touring activities was encouraged by the dissolution of the old Soviet Union, which suddenly made the professional Russian Classical Ballet Companies accessible for foreign appearances. The decision was made to expand operations to include acting as an Impresario and Producer for North American performing tours of Russian Classical Ballet.

A link to buy tickets for the performances is available at http://www.harmonicmotionballet.com/ or tickets may be ordered by calling 888-695-0888.

For more information on “The Nutcracker” performance in Greenville, call 972-249-6135.

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