Ballet Tennessee presents 'The Nutcracker'

IF YOU GO

• What: Ballet Tennessee's "The Nutcracker"• When: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15; 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16.• Where: Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.• Phone: 425-4269.• Website: utc.edu/finearts.

Guest artists from New York and Atlanta will join Ballet Tennessee for weekend performances of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." Four performances are scheduled Friday through Sunday, Dec. 14-16, in the UTC Fine Arts Center.

The visiting dancers are Chattanooga native and Ballet Tennessee alumnus Fredrick Davis of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and Sean Hilton of gloATL. Davis will dance the role of Sugar Plum Cavalier in the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon performances. Hilton will dance in all performances.

Joe Lynch from Ballet Tennessee's professional wing also will be featured, performing as the Snow Cavalier, Rose Cavalier and the Arabian Variation.

The ballerina roles will be performed by Hannah Locke, Alondra Gomez, Sarah Long and Candace Ricketts.

The production will be one of the highlights of Ballet Tennessee's 26th season, says Artistic Director Anna Baker VanCura. The many dancers are drawn from the VanCura Ballet Conservatory professional training program, junior and open-division students and community performers. Some of the dancers began their ballet training as children and now are professionals and professional-track dancers performing solo and principal roles in the performance.

Audiences can expect to see them "step onstage with joy, vitality and in beautifully choreographed roles," says Baker VanCura.

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