Between the 20th and 31st of December 2019, Arts Center “Saint Michel” presented the ballet “Nutcracker” to the excitement of a European audience.  The performances took place in the Belgian cities of Namur, Liege, Sint-Niklaas, Brussels, and by tradition ended on New Year’s Eve on the stage of the Russian House in Berlin.

The leading roles in Mikhail Venshchikov’s Nutcracker were performed by the star of the Bolshoi Theatre, Anastasia Goryacheva; soloist of the St. Petersburg Children’s Ballet, Olesya Gapienko; ballerina from the United Kingdom, Paige Bestington (Clara); and by the leading soloist of the Latvian National Ballet Sergey Neikshin (The Nutcracker-Prince). The performance of Drosselmeyer was shared by Harald Rook (Sweden) in Belgium, and Roman Suslov (Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg) in Germany.

All performances were full houses during this tour showing the best evidence that the “Nutcracker” of Arts Center “Saint Michel” is known and loved in Europe. Many audience members return to the performance from year to year, discovering new meanings and expressive facets of the familiar choreography.