Not your grandmother’s Nutcracker!

Hartford’s award-winning “The Nutcracker Suite & Spicy” returns for its 17th season with a wildly entertaining reinvention of the holiday classic that combines dance, comedy, immersive projection, interactive technology and theatrical spectacle.

Created, choreographed and directed by Carolyn Paine, this family-friendly holiday production brings together 20 professional dancers performing an exhilarating mix of ballet, hip-hop, tap, jazz, ballroom, contemporary dance and acrobatics.

Expect breakdancing Rats, tap-dancing soldiers, a popping-and-locking Sugar Rum, a tutu-wearing dancing dog, an Ugly Sweater Party, Rockette-inspired Florettes and dancers bouncing and tumbling across giant snowballs—all set within a fantastical digital world.

Award-winning projections transform the stage and theater around the performers, while interactive technology allows the digital environment to actually respond to the dancers’ movements in real time. The production's innovative projection design has received both a MUSE Creative Award and a Telly Award.

Part dance performance, part immersive experience and part live special effect, “The Nutcracker Suite & Spicy” offers a fresh, funny and visually spectacular Nutcracker for longtime ballet lovers and audiences experiencing the story for the first time.