Piedmont Dance Theatre and The Salisbury Symphony present Nutcracker

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Credit Wake Forest University / Wake Forest University

 The Nutcracker, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanovwith a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky has become one of the Triad’s most cherished holiday traditions with nearly a half dozen different productions going on this season. The Piedmont Dance Theatre’s tenth annual production is Saturday night, December 15 at 6:30pm, and Sunday afternoon the 16th at 2:00pm at Keppel Auditorium on the Catawba College campus in Salisbury. Rebecca Massey Wiley’s unique family production features live music, comedy, and outstanding dancers: Dan Wiley as the mysterious Drosselmeyer, Erica Wesselman, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Samuel Chester, her cavalier, and William Hoppe as the Nutcracker. Salisbury Symphony conductor, and WFU orchestra director David Hagy conducts. This year he celebrates his 25th season with the Salisbury Symphony. He spoke with David by phone from Venice, Italy. They began talking about Tchaikovsky’s phenomenal musical score, and his use of the then mysterious instrument the celeste.