Ballet Art School performs Nutcracker

Visions of sugarplums glided across the stage of the Bliss Institute on Monday and Tuesday night. For the children in the audience, as well as on stage, the Ballet Art School’s performance of the Nutcracker was pure magic. The parents of the little snowflakes, tin soldiers and waltzing flowers will have memories for years to come. News Five spoke with teacher and choreographer Mamie Martinez just before the start of Tuesday night’s performance. And, in case you weren’t lucky enough to get a ticket to the show, which was sold out for both performances, here are some highlights.

Mamie Martinez, Choreographer

“It’s a ballet. It’s very timely in this Christmas season. It’s about a little girl named Clara who gets a nutcracker doll as a Christmas present from her godfather. But it’s a magical doll and it’s a very beautiful story because Clara is so brave that she destroys the mouse king therefore turning the nutcracker doll back into a prince.

The costumes are very, very spectacular. We are very fortunate to have a costume designer in Mrs. Beatrice Chee. She really went all out in the planning, the designing and the preparation of these costumes which as you will see from the clips, it’s very, very lovely.”

The Ballet Art School is the successor to the Mary Valdez School of Ballet, and Mrs. Valdez is still very much involved with the school and its one hundred students. Seventy-seven children took part in the Nutcracker. The velvet stage curtain the Ballet Art School had made for the show is being donated to the Belize Arts Council. David Matus was responsible for the stage design.