Anthony Williams' Urban Nutcracker

(upbeat music) (jazz music) Hello, I'm Tony Williams, the creator, artistic director and principal choreographer of the Urban Nutcracker.

My Urban Nutcracker puts a modern spin on the 19th century holiday tale, transporting audiences to an enchanted world where sultry strains of Duke Ellington dovetail with the heartbeat of Tchaikovsky.

Ballet, hip hop, tap, flamenco and swing blended to a fusion of contemporary and classical dance.

But the Urban Nutcracker is much more than that.

It's a celebration of who we are as a community.

At the Urban Nutcracker, we know that art can change anybody's life.

It helped me leave a street gang and become the first person of color, half black and half white, to be a principal dancer in the Boston Ballet.

When the Urban Nutcracker premiered in 2001 at Boston's Strand Theater, it opened to an electric wall of applause and standing ovations.

Since then, I've witnessed time and again the magic that happens when you merge ballet with dance traditions from other cultures.

You create a rich multicultural mosaic that works as art.

So we begin!

downtown on the street filled with busking dancers adding an inner city twist to this holiday classic.

(jazz music) (upbeat music) (feet tapping) (claps) (fast tapping) (applause and cheers) As act one begins, it's Christmas eve and the magician named Drosselmeyer is entertaining a group of children.

But not all is as it seems.

(jazzy big band music) (applause) (spirited symphonic music) Ooh!

Aah!

(applause) (jazzy music) (applause) (spirited symphonic music) (music stops) (darker string music) (playful strings) (strings with drum machine) (applause) (soft string music) (fast string music) (stately waltz) (applause) (symphonic music) (clatter) (somber piano) (somber jazz) (symphonic music) (bells toll midnight) (dramatic strings) (flatulence) (audience laughs) At the beginning of act two Drosselmeyer escorts Clarisse to the land of fantasy They are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her friends Clarisse and Drosselmeyer are entertained by dancers from around the world.

(slow swing music) (symphonic music) (applause) (symphonic music) (applause) (upbeat jazz) (upbeat swing) (applause) Woo!

(feet tapping) (symphonic music) (applause and cheers) (symphonic music) (applause) (jazz swing) (applause) (slow strings and harp) (applause) (applause and cheers) (applause) (grand symphonic music) (tapping) (music builds) (applause and cheers) (upbeat jazzy music) (applause and cheers)