The turkey is now leftovers, the parades are finished for another year, and the bowl games have been won and lost. The kids are bored. What do we do now?
The solution might be the Haddad Youth Ballet’s annual production of “The Nutcracker,” featuring many dancers your children might know.
For the 12th year, the company will perform the holiday classic with three performances on Nov. 29-30 at South Lakes High School.
Kristine Reynolds, 12, of Great Falls dances in the role of Clara.
Adults might recognize people in the cast, too.
Optometrist Daraius Unwalla plays an adult in the party scene, appearing with his children, Alexis and Simone.
With 85 dancers in the cast, 75 are children, ranging from four months to 15 years of age.
They wear 700 pieces of costume equipment along with props like toy rifles and swords for the battle between the mice and the toy soldiers.
Four former dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet will dance in lead roles as adults: Anastasia Babayeva and her husband, Dennis Gronostayskiy; Nicolai Balatsenko; and Alexei Tochilin.
Haddad, who has taught ballet in Great Falls for 16 years, has been producing the Nutcracker for 12 years.
The production at South Lakes High School in Reston is easy to reach and suitable for children.