En Avant Dance Studio Shines in Collaboration with CSO for a Captivating Holiday Showcase

CSO’s audiences always enjoy when we collaborate with the talented dancers at the En Avant Dance Studio. The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky is a timeless Christmas classic.  It is well known for its enchanting melodies and evocative storytelling. However, in the hands of Duke Ellington, the familiar tunes were transformed into something entirely new.  The CSO will perform the Overture, “Sugar Rum Cherry,” “Peanut Brittle Brigade,” and “Danse of the Floreadores.”

The most famous of the selections is “Sugar Rum Cherry,” a re-imagined rendition of “Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy”, which was arranged by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and released in 1960.  It is one of Duke Ellington’s most celebrated compositions. blending classical music with jazz, which resulted in a piece that was both respectful of Tchaikovsky’s original composition and distinctly his own.  

The talented dancers from En Avant Dance Studio will take the stage again in the second half of our concert. Performing a soft shoe dance to Irving Berlin’s iconic piece, White Christmas, which was composed in 1942.  It was introduced by Bing Crosby and his version is the world’s best-selling single, with an estimated more than 50 million physical copies worldwide.  The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards.

The song established that there could be commercially successful secular Christmas songs, in this case, written by a Jewish immigrant to the United States. White Christmas changed Christmas music forever, both by revealing the huge potential market for Christmas songs and by establishing the themes of home and nostalgia that would run through Christmas music evermore.