Berks Ballet Theatre will celebrate a significant milestone this holiday season as it presents its 50th anniversary production of The Nutcracker on December 20 and 21 at Kutztown University\u2019s Schaeffer Auditorium. Three performances are scheduled, and tickets begin at $43.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s production highlights the company\u2019s five decades of performances in Berks County while introducing new artistic elements under Artistic Director Nathan Bland. Audiences can expect updated choreography, vivid new costumes, and live orchestral accompaniment \u2014 traditional features of the annual production that have been elevated for the anniversary season.<\/p>\n
A highlight of the performances will be the return of alumna Jessica Bealer, who will dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Bealer, now performing professionally with Rochester City Ballet in New York, trained at the Berks Ballet Theatre Conservatory of Dance before pursuing her professional career.<\/p>\n
\u201cJessica\u2019s return is a beautiful symbol of what this anniversary represents \u2014 generations of dancers whose journeys began right here at our studios in Berks County,\u201d Bland said.<\/p>\n
The anniversary production includes refreshed designs for the Waltz of the Snowflakes, Marzipan, and Candy Cane costumes, bringing added detail and sparkle to the Land of Sweets. More than 75 performers \u2014 including members of BBT\u2019s Pre-Professional Company, Conservatory students, and community members \u2014 will appear alongside guest artists. The performances will again feature live music by the Reading Pops Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Willis M. Rapp, marking his seventh season with the company.<\/p>\n
Showtimes at Schaeffer Auditorium, 15200 Kutztown Road, are as follows:<\/p>\n
Saturday, December 20 at 1 p.m.
\nSaturday, December 20 at 6 p.m.
\nSunday, December 21 at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
In addition to the mainstage production, Berks Ballet Theatre will host its Sugar Plum Fairy Tea Party on Sunday, November 23 at 1:30 p.m. at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. The event includes a preview performance, story time, character meet-and-greets, children\u2019s crafts, and seasonal refreshments. Tickets are required.<\/p>\n
Berks Ballet Theatre was founded in 1976 by Carol Ennis and continues to serve as a longstanding part of the local arts community. Today, the company presents pre-professional training and public performances through the Berks Ballet Theatre Conservatory of Dance. More information and tickets are available at BerksBalletTheatre.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berks Ballet Theatre will celebrate a significant milestone this holiday season as it presents its 50th anniversary production…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-37639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}