Best Of Tucson®

Best Dance Production

Ballet Tucson's "Nutcracker"

READERS' PICK: It's too bad Tchaikovsky didn't write any lyrics to his divine Nutcracker score, because then we could sing you the virtues of this production. We can try humming it, with visions of dancing candies in our heads--DOOH dooh dooh dooh DOOH dooh dooh. Can you hear it? Oh, well, never mind. Suffice it to say that Ballet Tucson just keeps better and better, and artistic director Mary Beth Cabana's decision to switch her annual holiday production from the Pima College Proscenium Theatre to Centennial Hall was inspired. The grand old place was eminently suitable for this holiday froth: More than 100 young adult dancers and well-trained kids in rich winter-colored costumes of green and red made the stage a magical fairyland. And Cabana's intricate choreography for "Snow" is about the best we've seen. Jessica Galgiani, a fine young dancer headed off to the competitive Indiana University dance program this fall, made a lovely Sugar Plum Fairy in her farewell Nutcracker performance.
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