The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band presents

Big Band Singer Gail Wilson in

The 2006 Dance-Along Nutcracker®: CLARA-fied!

2:30 pm & GALA 7 pm, Saturday, December 9
11 am & 3 pm, Sunday, December 10

Guest Conductor, Bradley Connlain
Choreographer Carolyn Carvajal
Gala features City Swing with Gail Wilson
Box Office: www.yerbabuenaarts.org; 415/978-ARTS
Information: www.sflgfb.org/dancealong.html; 415/255-1355

The 2006 Dance-Along Nutcracker takes a zany romp through the Nutcracker story when Clara tells all about what really happened when Drosselmeyer visited for Christmas. Performed by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band conducted by Bradley Connlain, the wackiest Nutcracker on earth stars big band singer Gail Wilson, choreographer Carolyn Carvajal and you!

Tired of letting professional dancers have all the fun? Described by the San Francisco Chronicle’s C.W. Nevius as “inspired foolishness, tomfoolery on a grand and witty scale,” the Dance-Along Nutcracker lets the audience concoct its own choreography beneath the colored spotlights. While the Band performs Nutcracker favorites like Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Flowers, sugar plum wannabes leap and pirouette about the dance floor. Tutu rentals and fairy wands are available for those with nothing to wear. Here, wallflowers have as much fun as dancers.

This year’s Dance-Along highlights include:

· Big band singer Gail Wilson returns to the Bay Area to star as Clara, who takes the audience on an offbeat turn down memory lane.

· Conducting the Band is Guest Conductor Bradley Connlain, band leader of City Swing and music director of more than 15 community musical productions around the Bay area.

· San Francisco Opera Ballet and San Francisco Ballet veteran Carolyn Carvajal choreographs the feature dance numbers and dances as Drosselmeyer and the Rat King.

· The Opening Night Gala features a cocktail party with dancing to the big band sound of City Swing fronted by Gail Wilson.

· Corinne Levy, dancer with Dance Through Time for 12 years and a veteran of Beach Blanket Babylon, returns to the Dance-Along Nutcracker to dance as Clara.

· All performances feature Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and other music performed by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, the Official Band of the City of San Francisco.

The Dance-Along Nutcracker is also the primary fundraiser for the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, the Official Band of San Francisco. The Band performs at 15-20 concerts, parades and civic events throughout the year, most free of charge, and the Dance-Along supports all its activities. It’s a show that brings music to the entire community the whole year through!


What the Critics Say About the Dance-Along Nutcracker

“Inspired foolishness, tomfoolery on a grand and witty scale… and the band was superb.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“It’s the best, most hilarious and most participatory Nutcracker around.” –San Francisco Frontiers Magazine

"…one of this city's most delightfully idiosyncratic events." – Wall Street Journal

"Women spin, men cavort and children leap… It is utterly ridiculous." –SF Weekly

"If more people find out about this thing, they'll have to rent the Cow Palace." – San Francisco Chronicle

The SFLGFB is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, proud to be sponsored in part by Grants for the Arts of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Jon Sims Endowment Fund for the Performing Arts.