By Sally Deering

During the holidays, take a walk down Wayne Street in Jersey City (right off Grove) and you might hear strains of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” blasting from a boom box inside the Barrow Mansion, a community center where theater and dance companies hang their hats – and shoes. In one of the larger rehearsal rooms, professional dancers and students from local schools are spinning, leaping and paying close attention to Nimbus Dance Works’ Artistic Director Samuel Pott as he choreographs their movements for the company’s upcoming production of “Jersey City Nutcracker.”

Artistic Director and Choreographer Samuel Pott rehearses dancers in a scene from “Jersey City Nutcracker”

The curtain goes up Fri, Dec. 21st at the Frank R. Conwell Middle School on Bright Street in Jersey City and runs through Sun, Dec. 23rd — for tickets, go to www.nimbusdanceworks.org. After attending a recent rehearsal, it pleases me to report that this is going to be one fabulous show.

Nimbus Dance Works’ version of Tchaikovsky’s classic features the composer’s beautiful score with a twist on its tale. In the original E.T.A Hoffman story, the boy and girl, Christopher and Maria, fall asleep and the toys that are placed under the tree spring to life. In the Nimbus version, Christopher and Maria embark on a journey through the urban landscape instead where dancers play Sugar Plum Fairies, an Arabian Princess, The Rat King and so much more as Tchaikovsky’s score helps bring the story to life. Continue reading COVER STORY:Sugar Plum Fairies, Jersey Style-Nimbus Dance Works’ “Jersey City Nutcracker” to Enchant Audiences Once Again →