December is one of our favorite months to celebrate the art of dance! The holiday season is extremely busy, but attending a dance performance is a great way to spread holiday cheer and celebrate for families! Our favorite holiday dance traditions can entertain members of the entire family, from young children to grandparents.
Our first favorite Holiday dance tradition is, of course, the Nutcracker! The Nutcracker is a story of a little girl who receives a special holiday gift for Christmas – a Nutcracker! The Nutcracker magically comes to life, defeats a Rat King, and takes her to a magical land with dancers from around the world. Most ballet companies, and even contemporary companies, have their own version of the Nutcracker that they put on in December. Check out the dance companies around you and see if you can go see this ballet tradition!
Another favorite of ours, for our jazz enthusiasts, are the Rockettes! Many of us get to see the Rockettes on television during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Rockettes are best known for their precision dance technique and their impressive kick lines. Their Christmas Spectacular is a highly entertaining show that incorporates many different aspects of holiday cheer, from a short Nutcracker section, to dancing Toy Soldiers, and even a nativity scene! The Rockettes don't just perform at Radio City in New York, they also go on tour. They have already been here in Atlanta this year, but you can catch them in other cities around the nation!
Atlanta Dance Central's personal favorite holiday tradition is Once Upon A Holiday. Ms. Charlotte's professional dance company, SIDEWAYS Contemporary Dance Company is putting on this show for the 7th year! Once Upon A Holiday is a festive twist on the story of Alice in Wonderland, with many cameo appearances from our favorite holiday characters. It includes ballroom, jazz, contemporary, ballet, and pointe! The show is highly entertaining for audiences of all ages, and this year over 25 students from Atlanta Dance Central will be performing alongside SIDEWAYS members. The Foster-Schmidt Dance Company will also be providing some pre-show entertainment at the Matinee performances. You can catch Once Upon A Holiday at 7 Stages Theater December 13 – 15. Tickets are available on the SIDEWAYS website, or at 770-992-0170.
Make sure you find time to catch one of these dance traditions this holiday season!
I just wanted to tell all the ADC dancers that participated in the “Once Upon a Holiday” show this past weekend that your hard work and long hours of practicing produced the best set of performances of that show ever. You all are blessed with the talents to help others experience joys, sorrows and to feel uplifted. What a blessing you all have. The true test of how good a performance is is when the show “goes to black” does the applause die down or not. In each and every performance the applause got LOUDER when the stage “went to black”. It was a terrific show, so CONGRATULATIONS ! You all are wonderful performers – no, STARS ! Have a wonderful holiday break, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I look forward to seeing you in your next performances.