The Loyola Ballet teamed up with the Loyola Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker.”

The performance took place in Roussel Perfomance Hall on Nov. 21 and 22. The ballerinas demonstrated poise and danced in perfect harmony. Their pirouettes and grande jettes were wonderful to watch.

The costumes were  designed to  complement the dancers and their dance moves flawlessly. The colors were aesthetically pleasing and the combination of tulle and satin flowed perfectly in each dance.The dances included “Overture,” “March,” “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” “Russian Dance,” “Arabian Dance,” “Chinese Dance,” “Dance of the Flutes” and “Waltz of the Flowers.”

Throughout all of these, the dancers demonstrated all the hard work and many practices. The girls performing as the Flowers were especially charming in the sense that they brought  innocence to this vastly adult ensemble.

The choreography was based on a previous production by Gayle Parmelee, associate professor emerita and coordinator of the Loyola Preparatory Ballet Program, with excerpts by Laura Zambrano, director of the Loyola Ballet, and Cheryl O’Sullivan, faculty member of the Loyola Preparatory Ballet Program.

Something that made this performance special was the fact that this was Loyola’s first ballet performance accompanied by a live performance of Loyola’s orchestra, which gave the whole experience a much more professional feel.

The Loyola Ballet Program  has been producing semi-annual ballet performances for the past 42 years. This specific performance of the Nutcracker was presented as part of Loyola University’s Montage Fine and Performing Arts Series.

Alexia Barrail can be reached at [email protected].