Tahoe Nutcracker 2024

LTDC’s production of Tahoe Nutcracker premiered in 2019 and is set in the ballroom of the Tahoe Tavern on Christmas Eve one hundred years ago. This year’s performances will feature two principal dancers from the New York City Ballet: Indiana Woodward as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Adrian Danchig-Waring as her Cavalier. Daniel Baudendistel (formerly American Ballet Theater & Joffrey Ballet) reprises his roles as Herr Drosselmeyer, the magical uncle, and Calvin Thomas (ODC San Francisco) returns as the Nutcracker Prince.

For dancers, the holiday tradition of Nutcracker is also a time to measure one’s progress and maturity as a dancer. Lake Tahoe Dance Collective’s company dancer Natalia Christian will dance the role of the Queen of the Snowflakes, with Miya LeFrancois as Clara, and Harrison Watson-Gibby as Fritz. Rounding out the cast will be Artistic Director and Founder of Lake Tahoe Dance Collective, Christin Hanna, as the mother, with longtime-friend Dan Morrison as the Father and the evil Rat King.

“Sharing the stage with my dancers is an incredibly fun time,” says Hanna. “In my career I have been a part of too many different Nutcracker productions to count, but sharing the energy of being onstage and being in it all together is truly magical.”

This year’s production will see some new costumes and setpieces, thanks to a generous grant from the Parasol Community Foundation, which also sponsors the fees of guest artists.

“We firmly believe that access to the arts is something that should be able to be made available to everyone in our community,” explains Hanna. “Support from individual donors as well as this incredible grant from the Parasol Community Foundation means that members of the community will be able to see two of the best dancers in the country alongside our local company of dancers, for a ticket price that's well below the national average.”

Host or Publisher Lake Tahoe Dance Collective