News Release

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Carolina Ballet’s holiday classic
comes to UNC’s Memorial Hall

CHAPEL HILL—Carolina Ballet is set to bring the beloved holiday season staple "Nutcracker" to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The performances in Memorial Hall, part of the 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series, will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 2; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 3; and 2 p.m. Dec. 4.

Launched in 1997, Carolina Ballet already is recognized as one of the top 10 ballet companies in the country. Founding artistic director Robert Weiss is a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet and past artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet.

A writer for The News & Observer of Raleigh once proclaimed, "Carolina Ballet achieves front-rank status, confirmed by the extreme technical confidence and sublime artistic commitment of its dancers."

"Nutcracker" is a fantasy classic, capturing the irrepressible imagination of a child’s world in which all things are possible. Based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s more macabre "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," it tells the story of Clara, a young German girl, who dreams of a nutcracker prince. This was Tchaikovsky’s third and final major ballet.

Single ticket prices range from $28 to $60 for the public and are $10 each for Carolina students. Tickets are available by phone at (919) 843-3333 or from the Memorial Hall box office on Cameron Avenue, open Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Carolina students should call the box office for purchasing information. Series subscriptions also are available.

On performance days, the box office is open from 10 a.m. until intermission. For more information, e-mail performingarts@unc.edu or visit www.unc.edu/performingarts.

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/memorial/carolina_ballet.jpg
Web site: http://carolinaballet.com/
Carolina Performing Arts Series contact: Jennifer Smith, (919) 966-3834 or jwsmith@unc.edu
News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon,

(919) 962-8595