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principal dancers â€" Yvonne Cutaran and Kenneth Larson of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens â€" performing the roles of the Sugâ€" arplum Fairy/Snow Queen and the CavalienPrince. Thursday‘s performances will feature Ballet Jorgen‘s own principal dancers Tara Butler or Kara Davis in the female roles and Edmond Kilâ€" Torontoâ€"based choreographer Bengt Sorgen has earned a repâ€" WuWMdoMWMmM unafraid to test new waters and blaze new trails in the art of WMMMMQ»WMWMMM approached The Nutcracker, the centuryâ€"old baliet that has, over the years, become an audience Christmas favorite. in choreographing The Nutcracker for his Ballet Jorgen dance company to debut last season, the Swedishâ€"born artist did, howâ€" ever, approach the piece from "You always bring new things to it when you redo an existing work. But I‘m a dassicist â€"1 come from the big ballet orgaâ€" nizations and was really trained to be a dassicist. So I have no 4 â€" particular desire to revamp ' . C them into entirely different | types of work. What I‘m trying to do is simply provide essences P of the traditional ballet producâ€" tion with my perspective of that particular production. I don‘t really see the point in bothering to do The Nutcracker if you‘re not going to develop the dassical version. "For us, as a small company, the challenge lies in being able to provide audiences with the same essence as that of a classical production by a large company of 60 dancers. Our challenge is to provide you with that same feeling but with fewer dancers. That‘s very difficult, and so it‘s enough of a challenge for us to feel stimulated as a creative company." The Nutcracker, which Ballet Jorgen performs with the Kitchâ€" enerâ€"Waterioo Symphony tonight and tomorrow at The Centre in the Square, was originally performed in 1892 with Tchaikovsky‘s nowâ€"famous score. Based on E.T.A. Hoffman‘s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, the story opens on Christmas Eve in the Stahibaum houseâ€" hold, where family and guests have gathered to celebrate the holiday. Young Kiara is given a gift of a toy Nutcracker doll by her Godfather Herr Drosselmeyer (danced by Jorgen), a gift that magically comes to life in the middle of the night and leads Kiara on a magical journey. After rescuing Klara from mice and rats the size of herself, the toyâ€"turnedâ€"prince takes her to the Kingdom of Snow where they meet the Snow Queen and the Land of Sweet where they meet the Sugarplum Fairy. Tonight‘s performance of The Nutcracker features two guest A veritable Christmas tradition comes to town * 0 l Oc nine a e t CC By Dieborah Crandall call The Centre box office at 578â€"1570. dent choreographers at that time," Sorgen says. "But it‘s grown into a pretty large organization. We have grown into the largest producer of original ballets in Canada, so our original mandate is pretty much what‘s driving the company. it‘s just that we realâ€" ized that it wasn‘t possible to simply pick up dancers and try to operate in a semiâ€"organizational structure. it requires too much organization and too many resources to do what we do well." Another goal of the dance company is to take ballet to comâ€" munities that would not otherwise, because of costs involved, host productions of Ballet Jorgen‘s calibre. "We‘re trying to develop a highâ€"quality reputation in the midâ€" budget market â€" to build a reputation as a company that preâ€" senters can afford to bring in but with the kind of quality and calibre that you would expect from the very largest ballet comâ€" pany," Jorgen says. "Kitchenerâ€"Waterioo has always been fortuâ€" nate in that it‘s relatively dose to the travel path of major companies, so you have access to them and we‘re very pleased to be among the companies that are invited in. But outside of areas like Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo, very few people today can see live ballet. So that‘s really the whole that we‘re filling on the touring market while we‘re maintaining our cuttingâ€"edge repuâ€" tation for contemporary works in the major centres like Toronto, Montreal and New York." The Nutcracker, performed by the Kitchenerâ€"Waterioo Sym:â€" phony and Ballet Jorgen, will be presented at The Centre in the Square tonight at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 19 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 pm. Tickets for evening performances are $17 to $25 for adults and $15 for children. Matinee tickets are $10. For reservations, patrick or Andrew Giday in the male soles. Normally, the Baliet Sorgen production of The Nutcracker inwolves a company of 16 to 18 dancers, but local audiences will enjoy a special treat when another 15 or so young dance students from studios throughout KAN join the troupe. Jorgen founded Ballet Sorgen in 1987. He had left an estab lished career at the National Baliet of Canada a year earlier and freelanced for a while in Canada and the U.S. before founding his company. His intent at the time was to provide a vehide for independent choreographers to develop works without the Santa‘s first stop ) for the last 18 years. Happy Holidays Kâ€"W‘s Original. Kâ€"Ws Best. 55 Erb St. E. (in the Erb Centre) Acoss from the Liquor Store 885â€"6540 sn uen in ns ts eucai c " jpselinngr iaranimiss ade io eicpnc "At that time, we were really just setting out to provide an organizational structure for balâ€" let choreographers that were interested in working outside the large organizations â€" interâ€" ested in creating new, more experimental work on a frees basis than could be done within company structures. So it was really more of a support strucâ€" ture for me and other indepenâ€" restrictions of a large dance Got any entertainment news about upcoming events, artists‘ accomplishments, and other neat stuff that you want shared with Waterioo Chromâ€" de Readers . If so, contact Deb Crandal! by phone at 886â€"2830, by eâ€"mail at editor@wateriooâ€"chromâ€" de.com, or by fax at 886â€"9383. The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery :7 Waterioo will become a galary of girttering stars for its New Year‘s Eve Gala tundramsing ever‘ Organizers of the event are prommng an "ertrave genze of tun and entertainment" that feature: e dinner with complementary wine, champagre and hors d‘oeuvres at marught, a charity casno, and a silent and live auction. Among the everung‘s enterâ€" tainers will be the Paul Mitchell Group, 2 we‘ known local jazz ensemble. Also, psychucs will be on hand for private consuttations to help guests get 1997 off to a great start. kems up for bid in the live auction include a ski holiday in the Laurent:ary, a week at a private villa in the south of Frarce, and tickets to The Three Tenors concert in January Cocktails are served from 6 to 7 p.m Call the galiery at 746â€"1882 tor turther informatior The new sounds of Sylail can be heard Dec 18 at Mrs. Robinson‘s. The band, whuch will be showcas ing "new musical rantts, raving and literal shavings", features the vocal prowes. of Maria Del Mar (Mational Velvet), the rock gurtar of Amn Greenm waod (formerty of Stilett0), the extraordinary per cuszon talents of Dale "Slinky" Brendon (Orchestra London}, as well as Hamitton‘s Ponderso band members Bill "Guitaroo" and Doug "Basea reo" . Show tume for Syoil is 10.30 p.m. Operung a Katies Bridge pertorms at 9 pm. Admssor 6 tree your ticketsâ€"now department ... one of Canada‘s hottest *T sJelys bands, I Mother Earth, will be at University of Waterioo‘s * Federation Hall Jan. 11. Tickâ€" ets, which should go fast, are on sale now. Call UW‘s Federâ€" stion of Students office at 888â€"4042 for ticket into Don‘t miss Cindyâ€"Low Who‘s Christmas Bash 2t The Lyric nightdub Dec. 26. This all agesficensed event teatures The Killioys, hMead, Starkicker and 100 Mile House. General admission seating apphes and doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale at Dr. Disc, HMV, and Encore Records. For more info, call the dub hotline at 749â€"2121 I 1 | | | | 11