Nutcracker Festival

Ballet Arizona held its first Nutcracker

Festival at its new studios Nov. 24. The

500 guests enjoyed a holiday brunch buffet,

including a hot chocolate bar and desserts

from the “Fabulous” Land of Sweets, catered

by Fabulous Food. The event raised more

than $25,000 to help support Ballet Arizona’s

annual education and community outreach efforts.

The day included arts, crafts and interactive activities for children provided by 11 local cultural organizations, including the Arizona Humane Society, Arizona School for the Arts, Arizona Science Center, Audubon Arizona, Childsplay, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Desert Botanical Garden, Great Arizona Puppet Theater, the Heard Museum, the Musical Instrument Museum and The Phoenix Zoo. Children also decorated pointe shoes, played dress-up in Ballet Arizona’s photo booth and enjoyed extravagant face-painting and impressive balloon artistry.  

The School of Ballet Arizona, under the direction of School Director Carlos Valcárcel, gave three performances, which included scenes from The Nutcracker, performed by more than 100 students from the Lower Division levels, and an excerpt from Paquita, performed by Pre-Professional students. The final performance was the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, performed by Ballet Arizona company members Arianni Martin and Nayon Iovino, and Jillian Barrell and Junxiong Zhao.

Guests were invited to shop in Ballet Arizona’s Gift Shop, which featured more than 50 different kinds of unique Nutcracker dolls and the opportunity to interact with characters from The Nutcracker cast, including a snowflake fairy, marzipan doll, mouse and Nutcracker Prince.

Lauri Termansen chaired the event, sponsored by Lori and David Larcher, Zayla and Kimberly Jacobsen, Lauri and Eric Termansen,and Michael Saavedra and George Abrams.

       PHOTOS BY EMILY CARROLL PHOTOGRAPHY