I recently saw the performance of the Nutcracker. This performance took place at Guild Hall on Saturday, December 10th at 7:00 PM. This production was put together by the Hampton Ballet Theatre School. The Nutcracker was originally made by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, but the Hampton Ballet Theatre School’s version was directed by Sara Jo Strickland.

At first when I heard I was seeing a ballet school’s show instead of a company’s show, I was disappointed. However, I was blown away with the whole performance. I feel as if their show matched the ability and greatness of a professional company. Every dancer played their role very well, including the ballet portion and the acting portion.

I was very impressed by the performance of the Snow Queen during the act of Snow due to the various and extremely difficult lifts. Everything was clean and matched perfectly with the music during this act. The dancers who played the snow also danced very well, matching the music and each other, timing wise.

I was also very fascinated by the first act, where all the dancers were on the stage. This was especially spectacular because of the young age of the dancers. For such a young age, they danced very well and matched each other and the timing amazingly. This also proves how dedicated these children were to their parts and getting every move down.

Another part of the show that stood out to me was the Dew Drop scene. This is because of the excellence of the Dew Drop and the linkage of the background flowers. The Dew Drop was part of many challenging lifts and had many complex turns, and the background flowers all stayed together throughout the entire scene and they all performed their part very gracefully.

Overall, I am extremely impressed with the performance of the Nutcracker by the Hampton Ballet Theatre School.