With Thanksgiving and Black Friday keeping everyone busy last week, something very exciting came to Fresno. The Sacramento Ballet thrilled Fresno audiences with its performance of an annual holiday tradition, “The Nutcracker.” The Sacramento Ballet featured 35 professional ballet dancers and 125 local dancers.

This was the seventh year that the Sacramento company has traveled to Fresno entertain locals. Children and adults came to the Saroyan Theatre in downtown Fresno to enjoy the show. Prices for tickets ranged from $56 to $86 per person.

The Nutcracker is a story about a toymaker who presents four lifelike toys to a group of children. The nutcracker toy caught the eyes of a little girl named Clara who later saw the toy come to life.

Later that same night, Clara witnesses a battle between the evil Mouse King and the Nutcracker. Clara distracts the Mouse King just long enough for the Nutcracker to defeat him. After his defeat, the Nutcracker turns into a prince and takes Clara to the Land of Sweets.

Within The Nutcracker, there’s the beautiful Sugar Palm Fairy who ruled the beautiful Land of Sweets waiting for the return of the Nutcracker prince. Along with the Sugar Palm Fairy, there are the human size mice and the Gingerbread man soldiers, played by little ballerina dancers. After everyone began to disappear including the Nutcracker, Clara woke up wondering if it was all a dream.

All in all, the show displayed many talented ballerinas. There is nothing like seeing this story played live on stage. The Nutcracker has started the holiday joy with great meaning of Christmas.