"Jersey City Nutcracker" Brings Holiday Tradition Home

by Maddie Orton, JerseyArts.com - published 2022-11-24

For more than a decade, Jersey City has had its own special holiday tradition: Nimbus Dance’s Jersey City Nutcracker. The city-centric show runs from Dec. 9 through 23 at the new Nimbus Arts Center. Host Maddie Orton talks with Nimbus Dance Founding Artistic Director Sam Pott, who choreographed and co-wrote the piece, School Director Harumi Elders, and student dancer Izzy Baculod about being a part of this celebrated annual show.

A new era begins on Saturday, November 19th, no matter how chilly it gets, for the New Jersey Ballet, the state’s long standing ballet troupe. It will become the resident ballet company of the Mayo Performing Arts center in Morristown, one of the state’s premier theaters.

Under the direction of new Artistic Director Maria Kowroski, the New Jersey Ballet will present their latest production, "New Direction," at the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) on Nov. 19. The 2022-2023 season is the NJ Ballet's first as the resident ballet company of the MPAC.

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The recently renovated State Theatre New Jersey presents Ailey II, the next generation of dance featuring a renowned ensemble of 12 rising stars on Thursday, November 10 at 8:00pm. Tickets range from $29-$49.   

(LAKEWOOD, NJ) -- The Atlantic City Ballet performed Dracula at The Strand in Lakewood on Saturday, October 22nd.  Premiering in the Fall of 2006, Phyllis Papa's choreography is based on the story of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The story takes place in Eastern Europe when a young lawyer, Jonathan Harker is captured and imprisoned by Dracula. Photographer John Posada was on hand to take photos.

(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College presents Ephrat Asherie Dance—UnderScored on Friday, October 21 at 7:00pm on the Main Stage. Join Ephrat Asherie Dance on an exhilarating journey through the ever-changing physical landscape of New York City’s underground dance community. Created and performed by members of the company along with special guest artists from New York City’s underground scene, UnderScored is inspired by the intergenerational memories of club dancers.

American Repertory Ballet is launching its 2022-23 season with “Kaleidoscope,” a program featuring four unique dance performances, at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. One performance joins ballet with an original music composition, blending contemporary dance with an eclectic score for piano and cello.

(HOLMDEL, NJ) --The Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater (AXCBT) is presenting the World Premiere of Artistic Director Gabriel Chajnik’s multi-media dance musical, The Lost Princess of Oz in the Pollak Theater at Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ.  The production runs from Saturday, August 20 to Sunday, August 28 with at 7:30pm with nine performances in all. Photographer John Posada was on hand to take photos.

The creative passion that abounds in “The Lost Princess of Oz,” the upcoming extravaganza of movement and music presented by the Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theatre Company (AXCBT) in partnership with the Center for the Arts at Monmouth University, will fill you with positivity and immerse the renovated Pollak Theater at the University where it runs Aug. 20 through Aug. 28.

I have never been to Pike’s Peak, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans or the Snake River. I have never been to the fabled, historic Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires, in Massachusetts, either. This summer I made it to Jacob’s Pillow, going there to see Swing Out, an impressive, pulsating, simply dazzling dance show about the Big Band dancing of the 1930s. Yes, Benny Goodman still lives. I’m glad I got there and hope I can get there again.