Photos Courtesy of Dr. Joseph Myers
Friends University is presenting a new, full-length production of The Nutcracker that “is not your grandma’s Nutcracker.”
Andrea Vazquez-Aguirre, new director of the dance program, has choreographed the work to the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s classic 1960 recording of Billy Strayhorn’s Nutcracker Suite, along with selections from David Berger’s Harlem Nutcracker (1996).
The Ellington Nutcracker will… celebrating “the elegant American tradition of jazz, with its roots in the fusion of European and African musical elements,” she said.
Friends students and other dancers from the community will share the stage with four guest performers from New Mexico and New York City.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7-8 and Dec. 14-15, and 2 p.m. Dec. 9 and Dec. 15 in Riney Fine Arts Center.
Tickets, which sell out each year, are $16 for adults and $13 for students and seniors 60+.
Another Friends holiday tradition, the Christmas Candlelight Concert, is at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 and 2 in Riney. It features the Friends University Singing Quakers, Concert Choir, Jazz Vocal Ensemble and the 150-voice Choral Union. Tickets are $16 for adults and $13 for students and seniors.
For more information call 316-295-5677 or finearts@friends.edu.
