Fine Art Program

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas and SCAD drawing minors announce drawing contest and exhibition

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet's Fine Art program in partnership with Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) created a student exhibition featuring drawings of NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet Danseur Mykhailo Shcherbakov who visited during the fall of 2019. SCAD and NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet are expanding a collaboration of several years promoting the artistry of SCAD drawing students using NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet's danseur Mykhailo Shcherbakov as subject. Danseur Mykhailo Shcherbakov performed as the Nutcracker Doll and Brother Fritz in 2019's Great Russian Nutcracker. The exhibit featured at SCAD’s Anderson Hall November 6, 2019 through January 16, 2020. 

Pasadena's ArtCenter, Motion Capture, and NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet's Ballerina Anna Trofimova

In fall 2019, Ballerina Anna Trofimova was invited to pose for a Motion Capture photo shoot at Pasadena’s ArtCenter, the first ballerina to be included in the program. ArtCenter College of Design’s Chair Wendy Arvest states, “There is a class in the Interaction Design Department called Body Tracking and we are attempting to build a library of body movements to support it. We have done this successfully with ice skaters and Anna’s participation was of great value to us educationally.” ArtCenter is not a traditional art school. There are several departments that teach digital media design which is basically a system of small sensors (size and weight of a quarter) that attach to the body capturing a person’s movement electronically. This material is then used digitally. Anna wore a basic leotard and tights and had sensors attached all over body but her movement was not restricted in anyway.

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet at M.I.C.A.
Ballet Lines Inspire Fine Art Lines when NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet Soloists Pose for Art Students

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet presents pioneering “Art, Drawing and Dance” program incorporating the organic relationship between the fine art and the physical, live action of ballet movement bringing the dancers’ body to the canvases and the lens of emerging artists.

The “Art, Drawing and Dance” (ADD) program brings world acclaimed ballerinas to pose for art students in their classroom and artists are invited to draw dancers on stage in the performance venues. Vaganova trained NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet ballerinas pose for drawing and photography classes offering their finely developed musculature for the young artists to work from. After class, fine art students attend NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet technique class and dress rehearsal at the performance venue for more drawing/shooting opportunities.

MICA (Maryland Institute for Contemporary Art Drawing) Fine Art Chair Rex Stevens says, “"The experience of having a first class ballerina modeling was very special for all the different majors involved. The opportunity to draw a professional dancer is always intriguing; to have access to a professional company is really rare for students. It was a thrilling and professional interaction between the ballerina and the students. I'm looking forward to the NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet and MICA participating in another terrific collaboration."

Contact [email protected] to participate.