Indianapolis Ballet: The Nutcracker at Murat Theatre

The Indianapolis School of Ballet is Indiana’s premier destination for professional dance instruction, priding themselves on world-class training, dynamic performances, and excellent placement of students in elite university dance programs and professional companies across America. Indianapolis Ballet embraces the history and future of classical ballet through dynamic classic performances, and visionary new works.

Commissioned to write a ballet in 1892, Tchaikovsky worked on the ballet score from notes and instructions given by the librettist Marius Petipa, from Alexander Dumas’ adaptation of the story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” by E.T.A. Hoffman.

The ballet and opera first premiered in December of 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, the ballet was not a success. Even the composer found the premiere “rather boring.” But the music, that wonderful music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, got rave reviews, and it still does. Though revived from time to time over the decades, it was the reaction to the New York City Ballet’s performance in 1954 that changed the perception of the ballet. George Balanchine’s brilliant choreography is the reason for its success. Relatively quickly, the ballet became an annual Christmas Holiday tradition, with many ballet companies performing The Nutcracker every year; most use Balanchine’s choreography. The score for The Nutcracker was the last ballet Tchaikovsky ever wrote.