BalletNEXT Unwrapped

BalletNEXT brings Unwrapped to the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, December 8, at 6:30 PM. It's a Nutcracker-inspired ballet, so it'll be right in the middle of the holiday season when the city starts leaning into the winter classics.

What makes this one a bit different from your usual Nutcracker is the music. Instead of sticking to Tchaikovsky, the score pulls from a few different worlds. You'll hear Tchaikovsky, sure, but he's joined by Stirling, Richter, and Glass. Putting those names together tells you exactly where the sound goes: Tchaikovsky provides the familiar holiday warmth, while Max Richter and Philip Glass bring in the minimalist, repetitive patterns they're known for. It's a mix of the traditional and the contemporary, and since it's a ballet, you'll see how those different styles translate into movement on stage.

The performance is in the Leona Wagner Black Box, one of the smaller spaces inside the Rose Wagner. The center itself is a hub for dance and performing arts in Salt Lake City, home to resident companies like Repertory Dance Theatre, Plan-B Theatre Company, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. It also hosts the Sundance Film Festival every January. The building opened in 2001 on the site of the childhood home of Izzi Wagner, who named the center after his mother, Rose Wagner, who ran the family Wagner Bag Company through the Great Depression. The Jeanne Wagner Theatre honors his wife, a dancer, and the Leona Wagner Black Box honors his sister.

So, Unwrapped is on Tuesday, December 8, at 6:30 PM in the Leona Wagner Black Box at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.