Forty County dancers featured in The Nutcracker

The County School of Dance brought classic Christmas fare to Picton’s Regent Theatre, in the delightful form of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Monday, Dec. 10th in a matinee and evening performance.

Forty young dancers, from all across Prince Edward County, ranging in age from 3 to 14 were joined in the cast by 22 dancers age 6 to 16 from the Huntsville School of Ballet and former professional Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer, Barb Mathon in the role of Mother Marie.

This brand new production of The Nutcracker was choreographed by Brenda Cunningham, founder of both the County School of Dance and the Huntsville School of Ballet. Cunningham is an Honours Graduate of the National Ballet School with a Licentiate (teaching) degree from the Cecchetti Society of Canada. She has performed with both the National Ballet of Canada and the Australian Ballet.

Cunningham is the teacher at both the County and Huntsville schools, which offer classes in Ballet, Jazz, Musical Theatre and Irish dancing. As well as choreographing The Nutcracker, she was the ballet’s set and costume designer.

Dancers from the County School of Dance have done a number of performances at The Regent, but their premier version of The Nutcracker is planned to be an annual event which will include a student matinee at a reduced rate for schools.