Peoria Ballet Tickets

I had a really great first time experience the seating was great the ballet was wonderful

The live orchestra was fantastic. The dancers were excellent too.

I enjoyed the telling of the Nutcracker very much. Very talented local people were performing and I was delighted with everyone's performance. Would definitely go again next year.

While I didn't exactly pan the Nutcracker last year I certainly had comments some felt were more caustic than constructive. It seems they were heard and (predominately) addressed! Too much cache was given to the 'guest dancers' last year and this year the home cast was larger, the choreography was more nuanced and variable, though it still maintained a strong stage left to right bias. The dancers overall were more accomplished, with far more on toe than last year. Even the pipsqueak mice were well rehearsed and enjoyable for the characters they were rather than just "aww"factors. These kids embodied their roles and nary a mouse strayed from character. The multiple specialty dances were a pleasure overall, the Russian was about as exciting as you can get from a youthful cast, with the primary doing a few exceptional moves. I mentioned to the Mrs that in a few more years he'll own that stage rightfully. The Scottish dancer's choreography was flat out under her ability and though it is usually my favorite this year's dancer wasn't given anything to do. Bummer. The seats in the auditorium are way too closely gauged, you have more room in the $20 seats on Southwest. Not the ballet's fault but it does detract from enjoyment when your knees are pressed into the seat ahead and your row has to overlap shoulders to sit. Oh, $5 for a bottled water should be legislated against. The orchestra was excellent, that harpist needs a raise. The droning opening "volunteer of the year"award should have been shortened by several minutes, 3 minutes later names forgotten. The scenery made you remember one of them was responsible for the paints and specials. The growing tree was well done. Costumes this year were a step up as well. 99% of them fit extremely well and looked spectacular all the way back. Spanish dancer's sequin work a good example, I do not recall being impressed by that costume last year at all. The Rat king, had a fun death scene. Our seat section laughed though the audience as a whole did not seem to join us. The final final final Nutcracker spotlight left a bit to be desired. Again it was like the choreographer gave poor Nutty nothing to do, but I acknowledge the headpiece was very limiting for the dancer. Maybe a new design for that head would attach it more firmly to the shoulders and allow for better freedom of movement? The party guests were entertaining, Choreography here again was vastly improved, with several mini plots going on all over the party with the 20-30 dancers engaging to watch as they went from activity to activity, from conversing to dancing, even kids in the background rattling presents. We saw you! The Nutcracker in the lobby, an author selling his kid's book; the cute and entertaining mash-up of the Nutcracker and The Night Before Christmas, was as 'in character' as an author selling his wares could be. Santa walking about the lobby with Mrs. Claus, greeting children and adults alike was a sweet touch; waving from the balcony, popping up in box seats momentarily, assisting patrons to their seats before the show and remaining out of sight/out of mind during the show; you should have him back again, he was good. Several other things were better this year, everyone from parking attendants to security were more cordial and confidence inspiring. Last year there was a live musical group in the lobby. I didn't see that this year. I suppose Santa was the replacement? If so, nuff said. Temperature was a tad warm. Sort of the opposite of last year, and I had adjusted my wardrobe. Oh! Clara! I almost forgot I was saving her comments, you would think that I would have started with her? The young lady did a respectable job of portraying a character younger than the dancer's years. She played the age very well but her dance told of far more years of dance than Clara's years. That little cartwheel, or was it just a round-off? was completely a surprise and expressed volumes of caricature. Bravo. Her hand movements were unmistakable expressionism. Unfortunately her brother, was more vague in what he was communicating. Judging from his dance ability I suppose that goes back to either choreography again, or lack of rehearsal of that particular. From the balconies, their body and hand movements must be a conversation, not just hand flapping. Also it should not be standard 10 year old's ignorance of sign language. These moves must be by design, created and perfected by distant observation, and exacting in portrayal. Or at least they should, after all this is a step above community theater and every aspect should show that. Peoria is a city of 100,000. The Ballet should rise to the level of a good size city ballet. This performance was on par with others I have attended, though not the equal of Boston or New York, it was as good or better than many city ballets. I look forward to seeing what improvements come for it next year.

Wonderful experience!! We were in the balcony and the seats were great. The concessions were very expensive!!

all of us loved the ballet. I did not know that it was put on with local talent. How wonderful for them to experience being on stage.

We loved it. We had been many , many times in the past.

I fell asleep the first hour and was happy to wake up to the intermission. The second half of the show kept me awake. Doubt I will ever see this again. Not very many people bought tickets as more than half the seats were empty. A soda was $8 and a beer $9.25, I had one of each. Needed the beer at intermission to try and survive the rest of the show. Parking was a breeze across the street and was $10. Overall a big waste of money. I think going to festival of lights is more entertaining, should of just enjoyed that instead.. If you ever attend this event, be prepared to have lots of cash in your pocket...

I love taking my granddaughters and family members to see the Nutcracker! A tradition to be experienced yearly!

This was a beautiful performance. I loved the entire show. Our seats were in the second balcony where we could see everything. The performers were excellent. The price was great as well. The only downside is I wanted to go again and it was only a 2 day period.