LENOX, MA - Traditional and new dance themes will be combined on Sunday, December 5, when “A Merry Nutcracker Tea Party” is performed at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum. The performance will begin at 3:30pm and at 5:30pm. Victorian Holiday Refreshments will be offered.   Young dancers from the American Dance Institute Ensemble of Pittsfield, directed by Sharon McDonald, will perform the Christmas Party Scene from Act I of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet “The Nutcracker”.

The Divertissements from Act II, including the Spanish Dance, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance, Marzipan Dance and Trepak Dance, will be performed by members of the Albany Berkshire Junior Company and the Academies of Cantarella School of Dance, directed by Deidre Swindlehurst. The youngest dancers will perform special Sleigh Ride dances.  The combined troupe appeared before a large and enthusiastic audience at Ventfort Hall during the holiday season last year.  

Admission tickets are $14 for members, $16 non-members, $7 for children 5 to 17 years of age and free for children 4 and younger. For further information, call 413-637-3206 or click onto www.gildedage.org   Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.