When Sedona Chamber Ballet, in partnership with Phoenix Ballet, presented The Nutcracker on opening night last December, the audience was less than half full. By the time the third and final performance rolled around, it was standing room only at the 750-seat Sedona Performing Arts Center. “In less than 48 hours, word got around town that this was an incredible, professional show,” says Winnie Meunch, founder of nonprofit Sedona Chamber Ballet and producer of The Nutcracker. “This year, we might have to add a fourth show because ticket sales are already so strong.”
From its very humble beginnings in the Village of Oak Creek in 2012 to last year’s headline-making performances, The Nutcracker returns to the Sedona Performing Arts Center Dec. 5 and 6. The show features a cast of more than 65 dancers including 14 children from Sedona. Three different dancers from Arizona – all 10 years old – will play the role of Clara, the star of the show. Dancer Madison Penney placed first in the World Ballet Competition this year, and dancers Amber Skaggs and Avery Day placed in the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. The production features elaborate costumes and sets. Rachel Cahayla Wynne, a former dancer with the Louisville Ballet company and a current dancer with California Ballet, choreographs the show. Slawomir Wozniak, the artistic director of Phoenix Ballet and a former principal dancer with the National Opera in Warsaw, serves as artistic director. Slawomir says the Sedona version of The Nutcracker is the same production performed in Poznań, Poland, and it has been that city’s theater’s bestselling show for nine years.
“This isn’t a production with little kids hopping around onstage,” says Slawomir. “It’s a professional production with master students and professional dancers. Two weeks after our show in Sedona, we will take the same show to the Orpheum [Theatre] in Phoenix – some of the Sedona dancers tried out for that show, and they will perform with us.” – Erika Ayn Finch. Photo by Brian Chang.
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