Note: The Nutcracker Suite ballet by the American Contemporary Ballet is my second favorite ballet (just under American Contemporary Ballet’s Inferno and Burlesque). The opening and article contain minor spoilers to the immersive portion of the show, so if you want to be fully surprised, stop reading now and just purchase tickets for this holiday season. Yet, if you need further convincing or want to set better expectations, then please, read on.

“This is the door. It should mysteriously open.” A man proclaims confidently to a mass of people crowded in the small hallway of an 28th story office building. “I know this is the right door.” Yet, a distant ding proves to be a harbinger of more people, as elevator doors open, releasing more ballet aficionados into the florescent lit hallway. An impatient woman knocks on the door, but no one responds. “Are you sure we’re on the right floor?” “Does anyone know where the ballet is?” “What’s even going on?”

The Nutcracker Suite ballet is the winter experience by the American Contemporary Ballet. Running at nearly two hours and completely family friendly, the experience consists of three parts: the enigmatic immersive opening meant to confuse and delight guests, a snow-filled party with champagne, sweets, and wind-up toys to interact with, and a narrative-less ballet themed around various treats. While most other ballets force audiences into large auditoriums or performance halls, The Nutcracker Suite ballet immerses audiences into the experience, with the first two acts allowing for engagement and interaction; and when the ballet begins, audiences are placed within three rows, ensuring that everyone has a perfect view of the stage.

The Immersive Opening:

Last year, The Nutcracker Suite ballet welcomed guests to an unfinished space of a high-rise with two desks and two ballerinas placed behind them. The women played on their phone, answered phones, and basically failed to appropriately answer a single question asked to them by the audience. This year, Director Lincoln Jones elevates this “prank” on his audiences by informing them to go to one door (after trapping them on a non-descript 28th floor) and then leaving audiences to congregate in front of said door. The jingle of music down the hall—in another office room—provides a clue, as a receptionist (played amazingly by Brittany Yevoli) for a law firm plays blissfully ignorant to any ballet questions.

For those in on the joke, such as immersive veterans or ballet regulars, it’s my favorite treat of the year to watch frustrated ballet goers try to maintain a polite façade when asking a clueless receptionist if they’re in the right room. Yet, as her phone rings, and Yevoli descends into the absurd, the audience slowly realizes the joke—especially when Yevoli climbs onto the desk to answer the phone, yelling out to the crowd, “does anyone know an Art?”

It’s absurd and surreal and an incredible joke that will make anyone in the know laugh hard. Yet, the misdirection may not sit well with all (and those people likely aren’t reading this site), and we did hear a few people gripe about it as we walked to a door labeled “It’s This One”, after the receptionist kindly directed us to the correct entryway.

Pre-Show of The Nutcracker Suite

Contrasted against the mundane office hallways, the door opens to gorgeous space, with snow falling from above, frost coating all windows, and the floors blanketed in a soft white layer of snow. Production Designer Max Jezek continues to impress as this space has been transformed from the dark, hazy inferno just a month prior.

A young girl roller skates across the stage, designed to look like an ice rink among the snow; champagne, popcorn, and chocolate await guests on the other end, and a live orchestra of nine plays beautiful renditions of classical music. This is a multisensory delight, designed to engage people beyond their eyes.

Yet, there’s also room to play. Two women are wheeled in as wind-up toys, giving adults and children alike an avenue to engage and interact. One of the dolls has a key in her back that can be wound, allowing her to come to life. The other has a button on her tray that distributes cards that are selected for you, akin to a ballet tarot reading. I received the card for Skater, which held one of the most beautiful poems I’ve read on the back (by Jessica Piazza):

Here be the key. Here be the door. Your name called out from a frozen sea. Or not your name, but a deep command. The river of your youth writes eulogies. The ice you see is clear and mirror both. Your body longs to slide, to float. You imagine each moment the water might hold you up as prayer, as shock. Perhaps it is not your name called out, but another that sounds like yours. It sounds like ours. We are mostly water, but we pause on glass-like surfaces, tight as a lock, afraid of how we year. If you’ve forgotten, return.

Photo By Anastasia Petukhova

The Nutcracker Suite Ballet

The Nutcracker Suite Ballet is composed of 11 dances, each ranging in length, number of ballerinas, and stylistic presentation. Lasting nearly forty-five minutes, the ballet still maintains a level of immersion with the audience: ballerinas toss snow onto the first rows, hand out candy to the audience, and provide enough eye contact to ensure guests feel seen.

I love that the ballet is themed as a menu, offering each dance up as a treat, with names like hot chocolate, coffee, tea, candy canes, marzipan, and mother ginger. Yet, those names are bright to life as ice cream is distributed with chocolate, coffee, and green tea flavors. Later, rock candy and marzipan is handed out to the audience—and finally, the experience ends with golden bags of gingersnaps awarded by Mother Ginger’s protégé. As mentioned above, I love how The American Contemporary Ballet engages all senses with this experience.

While the immersive elements are entertaining and engaging, the heart of this experience is the ballet—and American Contemporary Ballet are experts of their craft. We’ve praised their technical prowess before, but it bears repeating: this is the best ballet I have seen. Each year, we return, and are impressed seeing the dancers only improve year after year.

Our favorite dance this year was Coffee as Brittany Yevoli and Thel Moore III create the darkest and hottest dance of the night, keeping us spellbound in their movements. Another favorite was Tea, in which Hannah Barr infuses her movements with a fairy-like playfulness and bounce that will leave the entire audience smiling. Mother Ginger is another memorable dance, in which Paige Wilkey takes a junior ballerina under her wing, and as young girl mirrors Wilkey’s moves. It’s a tender moment of mother and daughter, and a passing of the torch as new generations are empowered by their predecessors.

The experience ends with a finale in which the entire ensemble come together in their various costumes throughout the evening, showcasing how this ensemble is truly more powerful together than separate. Their strengths showcased, highlighting each other, and providing a diversity in skill that is truly impressive.

Lighting, Sound, and Costumes

One of the defining aspects of The American Contemporary Ballet is their use of live music, and it would not be an appropriate review without a callout to this incredible ensemble. This is the largest musical cast I’ve seen from ACB, with two violinists (Xenia Deviatkina-Loh and Enosh Kofler), a viola (Corinne Sobolewski), a cello (Allan Hon), a clarinet (Sergio Coelho), a flute (Emma McCartney), a piano (Brandon Zhou and Morgan Jones), and even two singers (Anastasia Malliaras and Charlotte Bash). The musicians are incredible, and having live music allows audiences to feel the experience so much stronger. The notes hit harder and the dances are elevated (higher than the 28th floor). It wouldn’t be the same without the music.

As we noted in Inferno and Burlesque, American Contemporary Ballet has elevated their lighting experience, with Zach Titterington and Payton Jane impressing audiences with perfectly timed lighting effects that both enhance and elevate the ballet. While the lighting here is more elegant than bold, relying less on reds, oranges, and yellows, The Nutcracker Suite ballet does a fantastic job of highlighting the dances and directing the audience’s viewpoint. Further, we attended the daytime performance in 2021, so seeing it at night in 2022, with the lighting, made it feel that much more cinematic.

We praised Ruoxuan Li last year for her costumes, and with Yasamin Sarabipour joining her this year, the costumes felt equally as impressive. The dresses of Mother Ginger showcased the unity of the two girls, but their costumes were distinct, revealing a distinct individuality maintained in the passing of generations. Hannah Barr’s hoop skirt in Tea perfectly bounced with each movement, only elevating the whimsical nature of this dance. And Brittany Yevoli’s dark straps provided a mystery that kept us guessing during her dance in coffee.

Improvements

My only area of improvement for The Nutcracker Suite ballet would be the airflow in the room. While it definitely looked like a Winter Wonderland inside, with snow falling and flocked windows, the temperatures did get toasty inside. We were able to cool down with a chilled glass of champagne, but over time, with the strong lights, the temperatures were noticeable. We understand that The American Contemporary Ballet is in a space that they may not have full control over, but this is an area to pay attention to in the future.

Conclusions

The American Contemporary Ballet is absolutely incredible and deserving of your attention. Whether you’re a fan of the ballet, or just an immersive fan, The Nutcracker Suite ballet should be on your radar. With an amazing prank opening that leads into an exceptionally designed and elegant winter wonderland complete with drinks and treats, all fans of immersive entertainment will fall in love with this. And then the ballet itself showcases such incredible technical prowess and expertise that you’ll find yourself amazed at how fluid and graceful the human body can be.
Bring your parents, bring your kids, this is an all ages experience that invites you into the experience. Last year, we said we would make ACB’s The Nutcracker Suite ballet a Christmas tradition, and we are proud to say, we’re upholding that promise. Won’t you join us too?

For more information on American Contemporary Ballet and The Nutcracker Suite Ballet, checkout their Facebook, Instagram and website. For information about similar events, check out our Event Calendar.

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