DWC Staff, Professional Dance, Holidays Guest User DWC Staff, Professional Dance, Holidays Guest User

Local Nutcrackers Performances to Check Out This Holiday Season!

The almost comprehensive local Nutcracker performance list! Nutcracker season is a thrilling time of the year, a time when some of the best dance memories are made. Making sure you’re organized and effectively taking care of your body and mind makes it that much more magical and enjoyable. Happy Nutcracker season to all! If you would like to be featured on our list email us at info@dancewearcenter.net

By Emma Neilson, DWC Social Media Manager

If you have a Nutcracker performance you would like to have listed please email us at info@dancewearcenter.net

Photo by Kazuo Ota from Unsplash

“Nutcracker season is a thrilling time of the year, a time when some of the best dance memories are made. Making sure you’re organized and effectively taking care of your body and mind makes it that much more magical and enjoyable. Happy Nutcracker season to all!”
— Madison Huizinga

Ensemble Ballet Theatre- https://www.ticketsource.us/ensemble-ballet-theatre/e-jgovkp

ARC Dance- https://arcdance.org/

Port Angeles City Ballet/ Sylvia Joyce Wanner School of Ballet- https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?actions=10&p=1

Ballet Arts Academy- https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/pbaa-nutcracker-suite-2023-2649309

Evergreen City Ballet- https://www.evergreencityballet.org/the-nutcracker

Body Language Studio- https://www.blsdance.com/

Emerald Ballet Academy- https://www.emeraldballet.org/#

The Dance School- The Dance School presents: The Nutcracker ✨https://www.thedanceschool.org/the-nutcracker/

Land of Sweets Matinee

  • Saturday, December 9, 2023

  • 4:00pm-4:45pm

  • Free 45-minute Sensory Friendly & Child Friendly Matinee performance

The Nutcracker

  • Saturday, December 9, 2023

  • 7:00pm-9:00pm

  • General admission: $14

  • Children 6 and under: free

Academy of Dance- December 16 @ 5pm & December 17 @ 1pm at Central Kitsap Performing Arts Center. http://www.ckschools.org/tickets

Northwest School of Dance- email nwschoolofdance@yahoo.com.

Auburn CDT- We are producing our 11th production of the nutcracker and our performance will be in Fife, WA on Dec 8th and 9th! Ticket Link: https://childrensdancetheater.com/tickets/

Children’s Dance Theater in Auburn and Federal Way, WA is producing its 11th annual production of The Nutcracker. Our show is true to the classic ballet, while also being modern and culturally relevant. We celebrate our students diversity and cast anyone and everyone who auditions. There are no professional dancers hired to be in our show. All of the parts cast, including the major lead roles, are all local students who train rigorously.

Our show will be on December 8th and 9th at 7pm and December 9th at 2pm at Columbia Jr High School in Tacoma, WA. Tickets to our show start at $20 a piece. Tickets can be purchased online at https://childrensdancetheater.com/tickets/

Studio West- Studio West Dance Theatre - The Washington Center for the Performing Arts washingtoncenter.org

Whidbey Island Dance Theatre- https://www.widtonline.org/

Ferndale Dance- https://ferndaledance.org/performances/

Bainbridge Dance Center- https://bainbridge-ballet.ticketleap.com/bb-nutcracker-2023/

Duvall Performing Arts-

  • What is it?: Duvall Performing Arts proudly presents The Nutcracker! Directed and staged by Dañela Lewis. Journey with Clara and her Nutcracker Prince on an unforgettable adventure in the Land of Sweets. Watch as snowflakes dance, flowers waltz, and the sweetest delights come to life! In this family-oriented, 90 minute production, you’ll enjoy enchanting choreography, dazzling costume design, and the timeless music of Tchaikovsky.

  • Join us for this annual holiday tradition and make special memories to last a lifetime.

  • When is it?: 

  • Dec 8th: 7pm

  • Dec 9th: 2pm + 7pm

  • Dec 10th: 2pm

  • Dec 17th: 2pm + 7pm

  • Where is it?: Cedarcrest High School Theater (29000 NE 150th St, Duvall, WA, 98019 US)

Tickets: Ticket link: https://duvallperformingarts.regfox.com/landing-page-rf?fbclid=PAAaaYHV2fDeSZtxEYuy40xN3j_JVNK87G7atYC0WEAcKjAjIz-GH_AaobJro

Dance Fremont-

Dance Fremont presents the 28th annual production of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, A Story Ballet.  Join us for a holiday extravaganza that delights all ages with a tender retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

The ballet includes the work of a number of local visual artists and features talented young dancers from Dance Fremont. Enjoyable for all ages, its length of 1 hour and 15 minutes makes it a perfect introduction to the theater for young audience members! Colorfully hand-tailored costumes, locally designed and hand-painted scenery, a cast of fifty young dancers, and an ensemble of musicians come together to present this charming holiday dance event. 

Enjoy original choreography by Vivian Little, director emerita of Dance Fremont with music and lyrics by composer Kathleen Mills, who conducts the live The Steadfast Tin Soldier Ensemble. Signing in Exact English (S.E.E.) has been incorporated into the choreography to make this performance accessible for the hearing impaired. The show's content is delightful and appropriate for all ages.

Dance Conservatory Seattle- https://www.danceconservatoryseattle.com/?fbclid=PAAaYDTVPrCFlK6pPY52dmFjd9hWv4G85eiPQR8lLjs_I9bB1qXOjN2ClpcQA_aem_ATiYR7mD4TuHA_N0fYM5QoIfyB9-3-ydp_oEgjaQcQOYYGTb9SyR3im3REg_RSaZ4vI

Momentum Dance Academy-
Join our Contemporary, Hip Hop, Irish, Jazz, Tap, Theatre, and Creative Dance dancers for a festive seasonal celebration on Friday, December 22nd, 2023, and Saturday December 23rd, 2023 at 6:00 pm (seating opens at 5:30 pm). Highline Performing Arts Center 

Pacific Northwest Ballet- https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/

And digital- https://order.pnb.org/24-digital/nutcracker

Flight Feathers Ballet presents The Nutcracker:

Opus Performing Arts: https://www.opusbellingham.com/?fbclid=PAAaaaWw2w8gO_IIq6hC8tqzmBAveuRC3Cgl25Ey8bK3L-qGfQDF9Rhua489s_aem_AQ3klwb9GAkvtF9-XQ3DlzF-o7WXBdx5x-olc-39BozcKn_HUakaGVQ4SNBy6DgYNms

DassDance-

Fidalgo Dance Works-Friday, December 8th at 7:00 and Saturday December 9th at 2:00 and 7:00 

Peninsula Dance Theatre

  • Performance Dates:
    December 2nd at 2pm and 7pm
    December 3rd at 3pm 

  • Performance Venue:
    Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center 
    1500 13th Street, Bremerton

Olympic Ballet Theatre

  • Dec 8-10 in Everett (Dec 8 is an abridged matinee) Everett Performing Arts Center

  • Dec 14-20 in Edmonds (Dec 14 & 15 are abridged matinees. There is also a full performance in the evening of Dec 15) Edmonds Center for the Arts

  • http://olympicballet.org/

Tacoma City Ballet Dec 9, 10, 16, 17, 23.

If you have a Nutcracker performance you would like to have listed please email us at info@dancewearcenter.net

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Karl Watson on Finding Balance and Seeking Transparency

As dancers, we’re encouraged to push ourselves as far as we can, often until our breaking point. Finding the harmony between challenging ourselves and staying within our boundaries can be a tough balancing act. Karl Watson of Whim W’him gives insight into this challenge, his dance journey, and what he hopes to see moving forward in the dance industry.

By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor

Photos: Stefano Altamura & Bamberg Fine Art Courtesy of whimwhim.org

As dancers, we’re encouraged to push ourselves as far as we can, often until our breaking point. Finding the harmony between challenging ourselves and staying within our boundaries can be a tough balancing act. Karl Watson of Whim W’him gives insight into this challenge, his dance journey, and what he hopes to see moving forward in the dance industry. 

Karl first fell in love with dance because his mom took him to see A Christmas Carol around the holiday season. “I freaked out within the first 10 minutes,” Karl laughs. His mom took him out of the theater and into the lobby of Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio. She asked the employees if any other shows were happening that night, and they suggested she take her son to see The Nutcracker. As soon as he set his eyes on the show, Karl was mesmerized. Eager to learn dance himself, his mother enrolled him in a creative movement class. He continued dancing at The School of Cleveland Ballet, later floating between a couple of different studios. Karl later got more involved with competition dance, falling in love with jazz and musical theatre.

Towards the end of high school, Karl realized he wanted to pursue a career in dance and thus wanted as much training as possible. He soon began dancing seven days a week with a focus on ballet, jazz, and musical theatre. Around the time when Karl began his freshman year at Butler University, YouTube began taking off. He recalls coming across videos about Crystal Pite, as well as William Forsythe’s improvisation techniques. These online resources and the resources on his campus opened him to the range of dance that was happening outside his bubble.

During his time in college, Karl did  two summer intensives summer intensive with Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago and a winter workshop with Doug Varone. At Butler, he also got the chance to take master classes from Gustavo Ramírez Sansano who was the artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater at the time. After graduating, Karl ended up landing an apprenticeship with Luna Negra and moved to Chicago. Karl ended up becoming a performing apprentice and toured with the company before it folded in 2013. He ended up staying in Chicago and performing with Visceral Dance Chicago as a founding member. Later on, while in New York, Karl ended up auditioning for Whim W’Him, as they were having a workshop and audition over there. He got the job with Whim W’Him in 2016 and relocated to Seattle where he’s been ever since.

Ever since Karl discovered dance, it’s been his most effective tool for self-expression and storytelling. He shares that as a child, he was fairly quiet. “I was the kid who liked to sit at the grown-up table and just listen...I was just a little more internal,” he says. Thus, he loves that dance can be a “very internal practice,” allowing him to be within his body and self-discover.

However, nowadays, Karl shares that he is most moved by experiences that take him out of his body and allow him to connect with his own or other people’s physicalities. “I think it’s just the physicality of [dance] in a world that feels increasingly less physical,” Karl says of what draws him to dance. He loves how qualitative the art form is, the meanings of dances are up for interpretation, making it even more compelling for audiences to watch. Karl also marvels at how technology and social media have given dancers new platforms to gain traction and share their work with the world.

While classical ballet training has been invaluable for his training, Karl shares that dance challenges he’s faced have come from the ballet world, specifically from ballet’s strict physical standards, as well as imposter syndrome. Karl is interested in the “decolonization of contemporary dance,” involving the decentering of European or Western standards. He’s eager to see different dance approaches being utilized, specifically those that center on the individualities of dancers through standardized modes of training. For too long, creating, training, and rehearsing has involved fitting his body into a rigidly pre-determined shape. Now, Karl feels as though he can pull movement out of his body in a way that challenges him but also works within the bounds of what’s possible for him. “I think it’s just about being in your body and finding what your body can do,” he says.

In the dance world, Karl hopes to see more transparency within dance education and more productive discussion about personal development and the realities of being a working dancer. While pre-professional and BFA programs have a multitude of benefits, Karl points out that they can be quite insular. Having holistic opportunities for networking outside of institutions would be helpful for dancers’ careers.

In terms of professional companies, Karl wishes to see more transparency and equity across the dancing hiring process. For example, he shares that the Dance Artists’ National Collective is furthering this agenda by “advocating for safe, equitable, and sustainable working conditions for dancers in the U.S,” as a way to empower dancers who are often underpaid and mistreated within the industry. 

While Whim W’him is on its break, Karl is working on an outside project with the choreographer Emily Schoen Branch and fellow Whim W’Him member Liane Aung. The group is planning on making a dance film and hopefully performing at festivals later this season when more in-person events begin happening. He is also teaching in-person Dance Church classes in Seattle. Whim W’him released two new dance films with Mark Caserta and Rena Butler, available for viewing online. Stay tuned as Karl and the rest of Whim W’him continue phasing back into in-person performances this winter after a long-awaited break.

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