Inland Pacific Ballet’s annual holiday season production of “The Nutcracker” will be performed Dec. 13 and 14 at Bridges Auditorium in Claremont and Dec. 20 and 21 at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside.
In addition to Inland Pacific Ballet’s company of professional dancers and guest artists, the cast includes young dancers from the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair. The 62 young dancers, ages of 6 to 18, make up multiple casts at the two venues and many of them are from local communities, according to a news release.
“The Nutcracker” tells the story of a girl named Clara who receives a magical nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve and sets out on a journey to the Land of the Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets.
This year’s production includes new Color Guard rifle-twirling battle dancers, plus toy soldiers, dancing dolls, falling snow, a dream with battling mice, dancing snowflakes, waltzing flowers, gingerbread characters and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Costumes are made by Inland Pacific Ballet’s longtime wardrobe mistress, Nina Hickey.
Guest artists for the performances in Claremont are Lori Hernández, who has more than 1.4 million followers on TikTok, dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, with Brian Heil of City Ballet of San Diego in the role of the Cavalier.
Guest artists for the Riverside performances are Mira Nadon as the Sugar Plum Fairy and New York City Ballet principal dancer Peter Walker as the Cavalier. Nadon, a former Inland Pacific Ballet Academy student, is New York City Ballet’s first Asian American female principal dancer, according to the news release.
Inland Pacific Ballet’s “Nutcracker” performances at Bridges Auditorium, 450 N. College Way, Claremont, are noon and 4 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14.
Performances at the Fox Performing Arts Center, 3801 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, are 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 and 2 p.m. Dec. 21.
Tickets start at $41, available at ipballet.org.
To contact the Bridges Auditorium box office, email BridgesAuditorium@pomona.edu or call 909-607-1139. To contact the Fox Performing Arts Center box office, email riversidelive@livenation.com or call 951-779-9800.
Inland Pacific Ballet was founded in 1994 by Victoria Koenig and Kevin Frank Myers. For information, go to ipballet.org.
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