IDAHO FALLS — Idaho Ballet Theatre will be performing its annual holiday tradition of “The Nutcracker” for its 21st year this December.

“The Nutcracker,” which is a classical ballet, will be performed Dec. 5, 6 and 7 beginning at 7 p.m. The show will be held at the Colonial Theater located at 450 A. Street in Idaho Falls. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.

“(The Nutcracker is) definitely one that many people are familiar with, but I think it resonates with so many people because you can see yourself in so many different moments throughout the ballet,” Director Abbey Lasley told EastIdahoNews.com.

The cast is made up of roughly 125 dancers. There are about 110 Idaho Ballet Theatre students performing in the production, ranging in age from three to 17. There will be guest performers and students from Brigham Young University-Idaho on stage as well.

“Everyone is local … and the majority are students,” Lasley said. “That’s what we really pride ourselves on is putting on a professional level production with an entire student cast.”

Lasley believes “The Nutcracker” is a “magical tradition” and a great way to kick off the Christmas season and focus on the “hopeful, optimistic, pure and beautiful aspects of this holiday.”

“There’s so much depth in ‘The Nutcracker’ that I think people don’t expect. People expect to see mostly all of the bright, shiny, sparkly, beautiful little parts of it — and we love all those parts — but there’s so many more layers,” she mentioned. “There’s so much more to be learned and to be internalized — things that can help us channel a really gratitude-based, optimistic view for the future.”

Lasley is one of three new directors who are making “The Nutcracker” possible this year.

Idaho Ballet Theatre’s founder and original director Brandy K. Jensen, who is Lasley’s mother, fainted last year during “The Nutcracker” rehearsals a few days before the performance. She had a stroke later that night and died December 14, 2023, at the age of 53.

“It was really hard, and it was a shock to all of us, but she got to do what she loved until the very last day and that was really a gift,” Lasley said.

Jensen started Idaho Ballet Theatre in 2003, and Lasley said she quickly began doing full-length productions like “The Nutcracker.”

“Every year she would add some elements — she’d polish something, rechoreograph something or improve it in some way,” Lasley explained. “By the time we got to her performance last year (of “The Nutcracker”), it was a very beautiful look at her life’s work.”

Lasley said the absence of her mother is going to weigh on the performers’ hearts during their December shows, but they are looking forward to taking the stage and honoring Jensen through their performances.

“We are very grateful to continue and be able to use everything she taught us and everything she embodied in her life to share this holiday magic and help people see the deeper meaning behind everything that we’re doing,” Lasley said.