The Nutcracker

There will be magic and mystery, tutus and Tchaikovsky – necessary ingredients for all Nutcrackers. This one-of-a-kind production will also feature beavers fighting fur trappers, dancing wapato plants, and Oregon trail children arriving via covered wagon as it weaves local Fort Vancouver history into the plot of a classic. At Columbia Dance’s Nutcracker, audiences will find themselves at a holiday party in the Chief Factor’s dining room of 1840’s Fort Vancouver. Party guests include a family from Scotland, a couple from Hawaii, and a Naval Lieutenant from England. Dr. John McLoughlin arrives bringing a stranger into their midst — a fur trapper from the village whose tales capture the imagination of young Cecilia Douglas and inspire her outlandish dream … Beavers stealing a top hat, a mystical woman conjuring an abalone moon, 3 shipwrecked castaways scrambling to reach solid ground, a majestic salmon fighting a river’s current to swim upstream … a fantasy inspired by history!