(Photos: Angelica Frey)

At the beginning of Nutcracker Rouge, amid wafts of frankincense, the virginal Marie Claire (Laura Careless) finds herself in a haunted forest where she’s surrounded by a storm of snowflakes. Dancers appear on stage clad in lace corsets, tutus, Swarovski-encrusted masks and matching jewelry. Their skeletal, horn-shaped headpieces are frightening. To the tune of Vivaldi’s Winter, they twirl and encircle the wide-eyed Marie Claire, who wears an iridescent turquoise rococo gown paired with a red, ruffled cape.
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