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Northern Michigan Dance Academy  ||  Dickinson Ballet Company
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Recent Reviews, Articles, et al.

Local Nutcracker Ballet Excels

By Jim Hogan

       From year to year you wonder if the people of Northern Michigan Dance Academy and its Dickinson Ballet Company can pull it off again.  If they can make The Nutcracker measure up to the excellence of previous performances.  Well, stop wondering about this year.  They’ve done it again and are presenting a gorgeous Christmas gift to the community.
       The ballet’s in Norway this year at the Fine Arts Center on Fourth Avenue.  I like it there.  I went to the Preview Performance and was immediately convinced that this was a good marriage between show and venue.  There’s more space and flexibility for the dancers, their sets, their props.  The lighting is great.  The sound is wonderful.  The sightlines are terrific.  You can see better.  You can hear better.  And there’s a comfortable audience environment.
       As ever, the show itself is wild.  I won’t give away the story, but the quickly paced presentation is a dreamy cartoon – but live!  A long, large, and loopy Chinese dragon.  Dancing rats and rabbits.  A charming prince and a series of beautiful princesses.  A parade of characters from around the world hoofing to the fascinating ethnic specialties of delightful dance music.  Life-size toy soldiers and ballerinas that march and dance.  A gigantic swordfighting nutcracker.  Battles!  Magic!  Love!  Good guys!  Bad guys!  Lovely and regal queens!  Fairies!  Yes, even a sugar-plum fairy – this one’s name is Laura Johns and she’ll knock your socks off!  The whole show will.  It’s thrilling.
       The costumes for this annual program have a well-deserved high reputation.  They live up to it again this year.  The variety, the designs, the colors – they’re spectacular.  Props this December – something you didn’t see much of in previous Nutcrackers – are onstage in 2010 and outstanding.  What impressed me and may be the most noticeable improvement from previous years are the sets.  They’re out of this world.  The scrim work is gorgeous and very convincing.  The snowy winter night is breathtaking.  It looks like a snowy winter night.  Imagine that!  Well done, crew.
       Also, producers-directors Beth Provencher and Kelly Lutey and their bunch deserve great credit for the way they manage Tchaikovsky’s sensational and infectious music.  The full orchestral score is professionally performed and recorded, then piped perfectly though the room’s sound system.  If you didn’t know better, you’d swear the New York Philharmonic was just out of sight in the pit, playing live.  No errors, no distractions.  You can concentrate on the action.
       Of course, the dancing is best.  The children from the younger grades are great, often amusing.  This year, they seem more earnest, disciplined, and self-aware.  But what always seizes and enchants me are the beautiful young women in beautiful clothing moving to beautiful music.  Graceful and athletic, they captivate and transport us.  This Christmas is no different.
       Go.  As a reviewer I have no qualms recommending that you gather the family and see The Nutcracker.  You’ll be glad.  You’ll love it.  You’ll feel good.  You’ll applaud the efforts of these kids and their instructors.  And with glimpses here and there throughout the performance, you’ll understand how and why dance can be challenge, skill, accomplishment, entertainment, and art.  The Nutcracker.  Music by Tchaikovsky.  Dickinson Ballet Company.  The Norway Fine Arts Center on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 PM and on Sunday at 2:00 PM.  For ticket information, phone 906-774-0790 or visit http://northernmichigandanceacademy.imeplace.com.
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December 8, 2010
Iron Mountain, Michigan

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