National talent meets Minnesota's Next Generation in The Classic Nutcracker

Ballet Minnesota welcomes New York–based guest artists Graceanne Pierce and Benji Pearson back to Saint Paul for its 38th annual production of The Classic Nutcracker, December 19–20 at The O’Shaughnessy., with a student matinee on De. 18, on the campus of St. Catherine’s University, Saint Paul. Pierce, whose credits include Ballet West and American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, and Pearson, a former Boston Ballet dancer, will perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Tickets, ranging from $21 to $49, are available for purchase online now. Find press-ready images in the Ballet Minnesota gallery. The performance audience members can anticipate “Benji and Graceanne bring extraordinary partnering to their pas de deux that will have audiences transfixed,” said Andrew Rist, who will be directing this holiday favorite for the 38th year. Pearson and Pierce showcased their expressive storytelling as Sugar Plum and Cavalier on the O’Shaughnessy stage in 2024. More than 100 young Classical Ballet Academy students will share the stage with these professionals, who are showing them what’s possible. Ballet Minnesota’s company veterans, apprentices, and students perform roles ranging from the luminary Clara to the youngest dancers as scampering mice and winged angels who seem to float on and off the stage. Enchanted sets deepen the magic with an adrenaline-filled war scene, a fire-breathing dragon, lollipop swings, Madame Ginger, and gentle snow falling on the corps de ballet. The story builds to a crescendo after Clara receives the Rat King’s crown and sits on the royal throne to witness a beautiful festival of dancers, peaking with a grand pas de deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Clara wakes from her dream and cannot tell what was real and what was imagined.

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