Nutcracker Lobby Performances

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!

Ballet West is home to America’s 1st Nutcracker, celebrating 80 years in 2024. We welcome performers in the lobby of the historic Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre before performances of The Nutcracker.

Ballet West is currently accepting applications to perform in the theatre lobby before a show. A group must fill out an online application form below and submit an audition reel BY NOVEMBER 22.

In lieu of a location performance fee, each performing group is required to purchase tickets to The Nutcracker at our discounted group rate (15 tickets). These financial contributions allow Ballet West to continue its support for the arts, this program, and building up the arts in the community. 

The iconic masterpiece that has defined generations started when Ballet West’s founder, Willam Christensen, choreographed the first full-length version of The Nutcracker in the United States in 1944. Now, 80 years later, Ballet West’s Nutcracker has become officially known as a Living Historic Landmark by the state of Utah in 2024, the first such designation of its kind in the U.S.

Christensen’s Nutcracker has been annually presented in Utah since 1955, and by Ballet West since 1963. Touted by the New York Times principal dance critic as “one of the best productions I have ever seen,” its success sparked a cultural and artistic phenomenon that is largely responsible for the ballet landscape in America as we know it today.