CULTURE

‘The Nutcracker’ gets its skates on

The world-famous St Petersburg Ice Ballet arrived yesterday to stage the ever-popular holiday ballet «The Nutcracker.» The company, which the French newspaper France-Soir described in 1980 as the only company in the world combining ballet with ice skating, is performing at the Indoor Sports Complex on the Faliron Delta. This is not the St Petersburg Ice Ballet’s first visit to Greece; in 2001, the Petra Theater was transformed into an ice-skating rink to host performances of «Swan Lake,» a production which also traveled to Thessaloniki. Later, in 2002, 20 sold-out performances of «Romeo and Juliet» and «Sleeping Beauty» were staged at the same venue, and received rave reviews from the local press. The current production of «The Nutcracker,» featuring the original music by Tchaikovsky, has been adapted into an ice ballet by choreographer Konstantin Rassadin, a former leading dancer of the Kirov Ballet and the company’s artistic director. To cater to the needs of the performance, an ice-skating rink made out of tons of ice has been set up at the Faliron Indoor Sports Complex. Thirty-five dancers and ice-skating champions have donned their skates to bring to life the ballet’s funny and moving Christmas story. Along with the tale’s characters – the children Clara and Fritz, the magician Drosselmeyer and the toy Nutcracker who becomes a prince – the audience can travel to the magical world of the Land of Snow with the Russian, Spanish and Chinese dancers and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Shows at the Faliron Indoor Sports Complex, situated at end of Syngrou, take place at 8.30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, at 5.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturdays and at 12.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. on Sundays. For ticket information, call 210.884.0600.

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