Thursday, December 22, 2011,  2 & 7 p.m.
Friday, December 23, 2011, 2 & 7 p.m.
Saturday, December 24, 2011, 11 a.m.   Oakland Ballet Company presents Graham Lustig's The Nutcracker.    Doors open 60 minutes before show time. Tickets: $20 - 59.50.

Paramount Theatre of the Arts
2025 Broadway 
Oakland, CA
(800) 745-3000
ticketmaster.com
$35-$50

Graham Lustig's The Nutcracker  creates holiday magic for all ages featuring artists of the Oakland Ballet Company, and members of the Oakland East Bay Symphony conducted by Michael Morgan. Staging of this family classic mixes whimsy with tradition in a holiday performance relatively new to the Bay Area, introduced circa 2010.

Lustig, the Artistic Director of the Oakland Ballet Company, joined the company just a few years ago, and has set the fresh, new pace with the restaging of  The Nutcracker to encompass local talent and reflect the community interest in rekindling theater arts focus.

Graham Lustig is internationally known. He trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, was coached by such luminaries as Rudolf Nureyev, Nikolai Beriosov, Kurt Jooss and John Taras and, performed as soloist and choreographer at Dutch National Ballet. In England he joined the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, where he spent 12 years touring the world and performing soloist and principal roles in critically acclaimed re-stagings of the classics.

With a Dutch Choreographic Award nomination under his belt and  countless commissions from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, Singapore Dance Theatre, Northern Ballet Theatre, Hong Kong Ballet, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Sacramento Ballet, his repertoire ranges from tongue-in-cheek sophistication to the wildly imaginative.

His credits are endless: The Washington Ballet distinguished Choreographer-in-Residence, Artistic Director of the American Repertory Ballet and its affiliated school, the Princeton Ballet School,  and many, many more. From our perspective Oakland has gained a treasure in this talented artistic director with a world of knowledge and experience that can help the Oakland Ballet Company put its best foot forward, continuing to blossom and grow.

Lustig founded a non-profit dance organization, lustigdancetheatre, which encompasses a dance and wellness studio, plus a professional dance company dedicated to serving the central New Jersey community. The talent's

For other fun events throughout the year, be sure to check out the holiday Lighted Yacht Parade,  Oakland Halloween events, the Spring Egg Hunts, Oktoberfest and the Tree Lighting Ceremony.