The Nutcracker with a Ballet 5:8 Twist Makes Valparaiso Debut this December

VALPARAISO, IN – This December, local students attending classes at Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts’ Valparaiso Satellite Campus will be performing in Ballet 5:8’s first-ever performance of Beyond the Nutcracker held in Indiana, at Valparaiso High School. The company’s signature twist on the classic Nutcracker ballet features local cast members from its dance education programs, all custom-designed costumes and sets, original choreography by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Rubio Slager, and lead roles danced by guest artists from the Ballet 5:8 professional company including Lead Artists Antonio Rosario and Brette Benedict, and Company Artist Sam Opsal. This Ballet 5:8 twist on the classic Nutcracker invites audiences to join Emma for a magical adventure that leads from World War II London to the very first Christmas. The single Valparaiso performance will be held on Saturday, December 1 at 4pm at Valparaiso High School. Additional performances will be held on December 15-16 at Lincoln Way West High School in New Lenox, IL.

Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts, the dance education center of professional performing company Ballet 5:8, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Frankfort, IL. Ballet 5:8, founded in 2012, is dedicated to engaging communities in Chicago, the Midwest and across the nation in conversation of life and faith through innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance, and its dance education center to making high-quality dance training accessible to students of all ages and levels of ability in a uniquely nurturing environment where students thrive. The company’s Beyond the Nutcracker production, originally premiered in 2015, has a reputation for attracting more than 1,500 audience members to performances in the South Chicago Suburbs each December. The instructors and staff at the Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts Valparaiso Satellite Campus, established in the basement of BridgePoint church in 2016, are excited to showcase the accomplishments of 29 local students in Ballet 5:8’s first full-length performance in Valparaiso. The local cast members, ages 5-10, will perform alongside Ballet 5:8 professional artists, talented young artists from the company’s nationally-recognized classical ballet training programs, and adult community cast members. Local students participating in the production represent Valparaiso, Burns Harbor, and Portage.  

Ballet 5:8’s production of Beyond the Nutcracker is a highly accessible holiday treat for area families, thanks to affordable tickets ($18), free parking, and a short drive for most from across the Northwest Indiana area. The story of Beyond the Nutcracker - set in the 1940’s - follows Emma as she wonders whether the story of the first Christmas is real, and invites attendees to journey with her Uncle Abrahms and the angel Anastasis as they travel across space and time to find out. The production offers audiences the same basic format and music as the traditional Nutcracker, but the refreshing variety of a new story and setting that invites reflection on the story of the first Christmas - the nativity - and its impact on our world today. In Beyond the Nutcracker, Uncle Abrahms, returning from World War II, makes it home just in time for the Cooper family’s annual Christmas party. Later, he takes Emma to countries all across the world in a hot air balloon, on an adventure that forever changes Emma’s perspective on the story of the first Christmas.

The professional Ballet 5:8 artists featured in the production and choreographer Julianna Rubio Slager (Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director) have received national recognition through Ballet 5:8 professional performances in Chicagoland and across the nation. Ballet 5:8 has been called “spectacular and mature” by the Elgin Review’s Jeffrey Pierce, and Slager’s choreography “consistently imaginative” and “does not disappoint” by Ken Norris of WKTV Journal in Grand Rapids. In Chicago, Kristi Licera of Dancermusic.com called Ballet 5:8’s Compass “an evening of inspired choreography and thought-provoking performance,” and Kristian Jamie of March Magazine, San Antonio, called Ballet 5:8’s Scarlet an “effortless” adaptation of classic literature. In Beyond the Nutcracker, Slager’s choreography and performances by Benedict, Rosario and Opsal are the perfect addition to the Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts talented cast that make the production a favorite holiday destination for area families.

The creator and choreographer behind Beyond the Nutcracker, Artistic Director Julianna Slager, is one of the co-founders of seven-year-old Ballet 5:8. Slager brings a wealth of experience to her work with both the School of the Arts and the 13-member Ballet 5:8 professional company. The professional company tours nationally in addition to performing in Chicagoland and the Midwest. A Michigan native, Slager enjoyed dancing under Barbara Smith at Greater Lansing Ballet, and also under Kathy Thibodeaux and Sol Maisonet at Ballet Magnificat during her performing career. Beginning in 2014, Ballet 5:8 began touring nationally, bringing Slager's critically acclaimed ballets such as Scarlet, The Stor(ies) of You and Me, Compass, and The Space in Between to audiences across the nation. Slager is also a groundbreaking figure within the field, as one of the few Mexican-American Artistic Directors and Resident Choreographers of professional ballet companies in the world. She hopes that her leadership and creative work at Ballet 5:8 will pave the way for other women and minorities in professional ballet.