Stuck in Vermont: Dance Factory’s ‘The Nutcracker’ Celebrates 30 Years in Springfield

The Dance Factory is celebrating its 30th year of presenting the holiday favorite The Nutcracker to audiences in southern Vermont. Three dozen ballet students travel from the surrounding rural towns to the studio in downtown Springfield to rehearse every Sunday. While many productions of this holiday classic rely on professional dancers hired from elsewhere, this cast is all local students of varying ages, backgrounds and abilities.

Eva visited the Dance Factory on a Sunday to meet some of the dancers and find out what makes this production unique. The dancers frequently applaud each other after running a number, highlighting the community-oriented nature of this production.

The Nutcracker will be performed on December 11 and 12 at Green Mountain Union High School in Chester.

Filming date: 11/14/21

Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” & “Waltz of the Flowers, Performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

This episode of Stuck in Vermont was supported by New England Federal Credit Union.

This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2021.

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