Nutcracker pirouettes back on to Stirling stage

The ever-popular ballet The Nutcracker will be at Stirling’s Macrobert Arts Centre next month.

The Stirling dates of February 2 and 3 are part of a Ballet West tour of Scotland.

Award-winning principal dancer Natasha Watson, from Falkirk, will dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

She will be joined by distinguished guest artists including Alex Hallas and Miguel Fernandes.

Natasha graduated with a first-class honours degree at Ballet West, where she is a lecturer and principal dancer.

She is a Genée medalist and was awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance’s Solo Seal.

Natasha performed with English National Ballet (ENB) in their production of Swan Lake in the round at the Royal Albert Hall and in 2017 she danced in the ENB production of Cinderella.

Ballet West’s principal Gillian Barton said: “Ballet West’s Scottish tours provide an essential element in the training of the dance artists of the future.

“Our classical ballet tours provide a wonderful opportunity for students to dance alongside experienced professional dancers.

“The high artistic standards achieved in our productions never fail to attract appreciative audiences of all ages.”

Based in Taynuilt in Argyll, Ballet West has an outstanding reputation.

Since the ballet school was established in 1991, it has developed an ambitious educational programme and now offers full-time Higher Education courses leading to BA (Hons) in Dance, validated by the Open University.

It also runs a variety of outreach classes for students from age two through to adults.

These include classes for 300 young people throughout Argyll, four summer schools and three year-long associate programmes in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow.