The following writeup about a recent performance of The Nutcracker ballet at the Q House was submitted to the Independent by the nonprofit Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership (LEAP).
Just in time for the holidays … the Nutcracker at the Q House!
On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Q House hosted the New Haven Ballet for a free performance of scenes from Tchaikovsky’s classic 1892 ballet, The Nutcracker. The city’s Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism and LEAP helped make the event possible.
A standing room only audience of 300 plus community members filled seats on the gym floor and bleachers and lined the walls.
The Q House gym begins to fill up prior to the lights going down for the start of the show.
The approximately hour long performance showed a sneak peak of excerpts from The Nutcracker performed by dancers as young as five years old! (The New Haven Ballet takes dancers starting at three all the way up to adults.) Many young audience members in turn were enthralled with the music and dance. The New Haven Ballet and the Q House are in discussion about how free introductory ballet classes can become available for children at the Q House’s dance studio in 2023.
Contributed by LEAP
LEAP Chief of Staff Yakeita Robinson, Q House Advisory Board member Jackie Downing, and ushers including Jaden Jackson and Mohammed Toha Yekini (pictured) worked to make the event a success.
About halfway through rounds of dancers’ performances, the ballet’s artistic director, Lisa Kim Sanborn brought a group of talented teenage dancers out to introduce themselves, display ballet moves, and let the audience know that they started young (usually around age 3) but only much more recently learned to dance en pointe, a difficult technique in which dancers support the entire weight of their body dancing only on the tips of their toes in special shoes.
New Haven Ballet artistic director Lisa Kim Sanborn introduces some of the dancers.
With beautiful costumes and this classic holiday story, you won’t want to miss the full version! The New Haven Ballet will host a full length production of The Nutcracker at the Shubert Theater on December 17th, 18th, and 19th. Tickets are on sale now.
Left to right: Louis Calderwood, Lily Wittenstein, Nora Gilo-Tomkins, Harald Tokumitsu, Elliott DeSantis, Ava Proto