For the first time ever, the Moscow Ballet will make its way to the Student Union Theater on Saturday at 3 p.m., performing the holiday season classic, “The Great Russian Nutcracker.”
According to its website, the Moscow Ballet brings internationally acclaimed Russian dancers to audiences across North America “while providing opportunities for fine arts enrichment and educational outreach for local communities.” “The Great Russian Nutcracker” is just one of the 100 annual engagements in the company’s repertoire.
From start to finish, getting the production together took the ballet company two months. The Moscow Ballet has performed in cities throughout Louisiana, including New Orleans, Monroe, Lake Charles and Shreveport, but this will be the company’s first Baton Rouge performance.
Sanda Lungu, one of the ballerinas performing in “The Nutcracker,” was in Baton Rouge in September holding auditions for local children to grace the stage “side-by-side” with the company.
The theater space is extremely crucial for ballet companies.
“[The] Union Theater is so beautiful and big … the stage is large and wide, good for a ballet with a lot of sets and big props, and [it] has a wooden stage – a must for dancers of all kinds. The wood on the walls will make the sound excellent, too,” she said.
Lungu described “The Nutcracker” as a love story that everyone admires and said her company’s dancers “are really among the best in the world.” The music used in “The Nutcracker” has been used for about 150 years, she said.
Lungu said she hopes attendees enjoy the production.
“We hope you fall in love in your seats, too. We want to take you to a new world of dolls that come to life, [where] you believe in the magical Christmas presents and all in the old-fashioned Russian style,” she said.
Students can use the discount code “MASHA” for up to 20 percent off tickets.