Preview: Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker Jubilee Auditorium

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Edmonton is cloaked in sparkling snow and the calendar is about to flip to December. That means one thing for ballet lovers: the return of The Nutcracker, opening Wednesday in Edmonton and Dec. 13 in Calgary.

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For Alberta Ballet dancer Allison Perhach, this year’s production will be extra special. After being promoted to soloist at the end of last season, Perhach quite literally got a plum part in this year’s Nutcracker — the Sugar Plum Fairy, a lead role performed to one of the production’s most recognizable songs.

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“It is very exciting,” says Perhach. “It’s like a ‘pinch-me’ moment.”

Originally from Virginia, Perhach has been with the company since 2018, and with seven productions of The Nutcracker under her belt here, her roles have run the gamut. Last year, among other parts, she performed as Klara, the production’s young protagonist.

“I loved being in the story that way the whole time,” she says.

As with the ballet itself, the challenge of such a well-known role as the Sugar Plum Fairy is finding a way to put your own spin on it.

“I’ve seen so many interpretations of it, and each one is so unique and special,” says Perhach. “So I’m trying to take inspiration from people that I really admire and have enjoyed the details they put into it, then also finding moments like that for myself, that feel original to me.”

One of the most well-known and frequently performed ballets in the world, The Nutcracker’s familiarity is part of its draw.

But all things evolve, and many companies have tweaked their approaches to it in recent years.

After 15 years of consistency, Alberta Ballet’s annual production underwent significant changes in 2022. Choreographer Edmund Stripe replaced the international dances in Act 2 with delectable themes that the Sugar Plum Fairy would surely approve of: peppermint, caramel, marzipan and popcorn. The confections were selected with input from dozens of staff and students from Alberta Ballet School.

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Zack Brown, now 75 years old, returned to design the new costumes so they would be consistent with the remaining pieces he had designed for the production years earlier.

“We kind of brought him out of retirement to revisit these costumes,” Stripe said with a laugh back in 2022.

This year’s production is the company’s first Nutcracker with the new artistic director, Francesco Ventriglia, at the helm. Ventriglia joined Alberta Ballet last December, after Christopher Anderson’s departure from the role.

“The most important thing for me is the level of quality I’m pushing the dancers to perform,” says Ventriglia.

Perhach has found Ventriglia’s leadership critical to rehearsal for such an important role — a process she describes as a “roller coaster.”

“Francesco is such an incredible coach and he can pull the most beautiful things out of people in rehearsal. I love being coached by him. I love watching him coach people,” says Perhach. “So as nerve-wracking as a new responsibility can be, I feel really supported.”

Perhach’s promotion to soloist — one of only three in the company, alongside five principal dancers — is the culmination of years of training and commitment to both her craft and the company. “The opportunities coming to me are so exciting and everything I really hoped and wished for all these years,” she says.

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Alberta Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker features 120 dancers, including the youngest students, who play partygoers, toy soldiers and mice. While this is Perhach’s seventh Nutcracker with the company, like many dancers, she has been performing the ballet since she was young enough to play a little mouse herself. ”I’ve been doing it since I was probably 6 or 7 with the local studio that I grew up in,” she says.

So after more than 200 years, with annual performances around the globe, what is the eternal draw of The Nutcracker? Why do audiences return again and again?

“This ballet celebrates the holidays, celebrates family time, friendship — celebrates Christmas,” says Ventriglia. “It’s a beautiful ballet that the public loves and a great challenge for the dancers to dance in different roles.”

Perhach points to Tchaikovsky’s score, performed live by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. “It’s really beautiful music,” she says, “and it’s such a classic story that people love.”

Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker

Where: Edmonton’s Northern Jubilee Auditorium, 11455 87 Ave.; Calgary’s Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 1415 14 Ave. N.W.

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When: Edmonton Dec. 4–8; Calgary Dec. 13–24

Tickets: starting at $60 from JubileeAuditorium.com

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