Miami City Ballet dances into the holidays with the 5th annual Nutcracker Magic Children’s Soireé

Adding excitement to the holiday season, Miami City Ballet hosted its fifth annual Nutcracker Magic Children’s Soirée on Sunday, Dec. 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. The curated children’s event began with a “Visions of Sugarplums” themed brunch reception, sponsored by Centner Academy – a new multilingual and multicultural language immersion school in the Miami Design District dedicated to cultivating emotional intelligence, mindfulness and well-being in children – and allowed guests to dance alongside ballerinas, take an escorted backstage tour and pose for pictures with performance characters before taking prime seats inside the center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House for a production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker^®.

“We’re so pleased that this lovely event created a delightful and memorable experience for each guest – and returning guests – which in turn ensures ongoing and impactful experiences for community engagement through the arts,” said Asha Elias, who co-chaired the event once again together with Nikki Squire and Tina van der Ven.

After the performance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Honey Shine, Inc., The Little Lighthouse Foundation and Chapman Partnership were hosted in the Peacock Foundation Studio for The Sugar Plum Holiday Party, sponsored by Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD, Doctors Hospital and Alicia Celorio. Participants from these social service organizations enjoyed a dessert party while dancing with costumed characters from The Nutcracker.

Through tickets sold and event sponsors, this year’s Soirée raised more than $190,000, which will support the Community Engagement programs at MCB School that aim to eliminate barriers to access to the arts for its approximately 19,000 annual participants.