Everybody Can DANCE and the Santa Maria Civic Ballet present their annual collaborative production of The Nutcracker, choreographed by Diane Rose Zink, at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande on Saturday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 1, at 3 p.m.
As the show’s artistic director, Zink has helmed the unique version of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet since its Central Coast debut at the Santa Maria Town Center in 1987.
Over the years, Zink has frequently enhanced and embellished this youth-based production with new flourishes. This year’s iteration, for example, features a new version of the classic story’s grandfather clock, which mesmerizes the show’s young protagonist, Clara, into a dream she has on Christmas Eve, as well as a Flamenco soloist, according to the Clark Center’s website.
Prior to her dream, Clara receives a wooden toy soldier as a gift. When the dream turns into a nightmare, thanks to an attack from the Mouse King and his dreadful army of evil mice, it’s up to a personified version of Clara’s toy soldier, the brave Nutcracker Prince, to stop the threat and restore order.
Zink once described her annual production of The Nutcracker as a complex, rewarding show full of challenging choreography.
“You have to know exactly what you are doing and where you are, so you don’t smash into anyone else,” Zink told the Sun in 2014, “and it really is fun seeing the children and parents getting into the spirit of the season.”
Tickets to The Nutcracker are $25 for children (ages 12 and under) and $30 for adults. To find out more about the program and other upcoming shows hosted by the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, call the venue’s box office at (805) 489-9444 or visit clarkcenter.org. The Clark Center is located at 487 Fair Oaks Ave., Arroyo Grande.
The box office is open one hour prior to each performance of The Nutcracker (held in the Clark Center’s Forbes Hall), and regularly Tuesday through Friday, from 1 to 6 p.m., and every Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m. Each performance of The Nutcracker is approximately two hours, with a 20-minute intermission at the show’s halfway point.
For more info on either Everybody Can DANCE or the Santa Maria Civic Ballet, visit facebook.com/ecdsmcb, or email everybodycandance@msn.com.
This article appears in Nov 21 – Dec 1, 2024.