BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — As dancers glide across the studio floor, the sounds of counted beats and classical music fill the room at Buffalo City Ballet, a place where tradition, discipline, and community come together.
This holiday season, the city’s longest-running Black-owned pre-professional ballet school is preparing for its 40th season community production of The Nutcracker, one of the most anticipated performances of the year.
The production, which will take the stage December 20 and 21 at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, brings together students from Buffalo City Ballet, the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, PS #61, and traveling guest performers Misa Mochizuki and Leonel Linares.
For many of the young dancers, The Nutcracker represents months of dedication. Rehearsals began immediately after summer break, with students balancing schoolwork alongside hours of training.
Among them are sisters Amari, 11, Akilah, 4, and Aurora, 8, who have spent much of the year preparing for their roles. Amari has been dancing since she was two, drawn to ballet as a form of expression. Akilah is excited to perform in the snow scenes, while Aurora enjoys dancing alongside friends and improving her flexibility and technique.
Beyond the performance, instructors say the ballet’s mission goes deeper than choreography.
Aminah Rasor, a teacher at Buffalo City Ballet, describes the school as a space that redefines what classical ballet looks like. Through partnerships with local schools and a diverse cast of children and adults from across Erie County, the company blends tradition with representation.
WATCH: Buffalo City Ballet celebrates 40th season with 'The Nutcracker'
Buffalo City Ballet has entertained audiences throughout Western New York for more than four decades, annually staging three major productions. It is the only Nutcracker in Western New York that is produced and directed by African Americans in Upstate New York, and the only production in the region to feature such a broad, diverse cast.
For Rasor, watching the dancers bring the story to life is the true magic of the season.
“Everyone’s pouring their skills and their gifts into the project,” she said. “To see that all come to fruition, it gives me chills. It’s living art.”
Tickets for The Nutcracker are $25 and are available online at here or in person while they last.
