How Troy Schumacher Saved Nutcracker

Ballet Help Desk

What would you do if, for the first time in forever, Nutcracker got canceled? This is what hundreds of thousands of ballet fans and thousands of dancers were faced with in the Winter of 2020. Covid had shut down the world and it was particularly bad in New York City. Enter Troy Schumacher, a soloist with the New York City Ballet and the founder of the Ballet Collective. Troy found a way to stage a Nutcracker, attract an audience and keep a bunch of dancers employed. Tune in to our two-part episode to hear all about how Troy pulled this off, why Sara Mearns got involved and how Emmy nominated filmmaker, Annie Sundberg captured all of it in a documentary that airs in November 2025.

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield is having its world premiere at DocNYC on November 16th and November 20th, followed by a theatrical release at select cinemas with a special screening and Q&A on December 13th at the New Plaza Cinema in New York. To find out if the film is screening near you this holiday season, please visit nutcrackerfilm.com If you're a dance company or a school and you wish to hold a screening you can reach out via the film website. The film will be available to stream on the GATHR app for a special holiday window 12/21 – 1/5. Links:

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Music from #Uppbeat:

https://uppbeat.io/t/ian-aisling/new-future

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