THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER Tour to Hit United Palace, NJPAC & Kings Theatre for the Holidays

The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a contemporary dance spectacle set to Tchaikovsky's timeless music, is set to return to the New York and New Jersey area this holiday season.

Produced by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) with Executive Producer, Eva Price, and co-commissioned by the United Palace of Cultural Arts, The Hip Hop Nutcracker will feature Kurtis Blow, one of hip hop's founding fathers, opening the show with a short set before rapping the introduction. This is the first year the show will play the Kings Theatre and fourth year the show will return to the United Palace and NJPAC.

Tickets for all shows can be purchased at www.hiphopnutcracker.com. The show will play the following dates and theatres:

- December 14 at the United Palace in New York City, NY

- December 15 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ

- December 16 at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, NY

Directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber and co-created/written by Mike Fitelson in 2014, The Hip Hop Nutcracker is a full-length production featuring a dozen all-star dancers, an on-stage DJ and an electric violinist. The traditional classic Tchaikovsky score beautifully complements the power moves of these 12 dancers, with transitional and incidental music re-mixed and re-imagined, helping to bring a beautifully surprising contemporary vibe to the production.

Check out the video!

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"We've got some of the best dancers in the world performing in a show that is being reimagined in a truly spectacular way," says Blow. "The creative team has turned this old classic into a new classic, and audiences love this new adaptation everywhere we go."

Just like the classic Nutcracker story, in The Hip Hop Nutcracker Maria-Clara and the Nutcracker prince go on a dream adventure battling a gang of mice, visiting the land of sweets and learning the lessons of the holiday season. Innovative digital graffiti and visuals transform the landscape of E.T.A. Hoffmann's beloved story from traditional 19th Century Germany to the vibrant, diverse sights and sounds of a colorful and contemporary New York City. Through the modern, self-expressive gaze of hip hop culture, the dynamic performers of The Hip Hop Nutcracker celebrate the magic of the entire holiday season on the most inclusive holiday of them all - New Year's Eve, a time for new beginnings.

For more about The Hip Hop Nutcracker and to find information about where to purchase tickets, visit hiphopnutcracker.com/#tours, or follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thehiphopnutcracker, Instagram: www.instagram.com/hiphopnutcracker, Twitter: twitter.com/hhnutcracker and YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCWpqgbYykPixFpjG95rA_xg.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Jennifer Weber (Director/Choreographer) is an award-winning director-choreographer whose career has spanned concert dance, commercial events, theatre and TV. A physical storyteller at heart, Weber brings projects to life with her unique sense of visual narrative. Weber is the director-choreographer of the international touring hit The Hip Hop Nutcracker, as well as the founder and director of Brooklyn-based hip hop theatre company, Decadancetheatre (for which she was nominated for the "Outstanding Emerging Choreographer" New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award). Her concert dance work has toured across the US, UK, Russia and France performing at venues including Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Apollo Theater, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London's Southbank Center, The Everyman in Liverpool, New York City Center, Bumbershoot in Seattle, The Music Center, Los Angeles and The Stanislavsky Music Theatre in Moscow.

Weber has choreographed immersive and staged events for brands including American Express, Uber, Ulta, L'Oreal Matrix, Reebok, Philosophy, Marc Jacobs, Hormel and CK2. She is currently the director for the tour of Lifetime's Bring It Live! With Coach D and the Dancing Dolls.

As a choreographer, her theater credits include the US Premier of Bryony Lavery's Stockholm at Stageworks/Hudson, PBS's Odd Squad Live Tour, James Brown: Get On the Good Foot for The Apollo Theater/US Tour (contributing choreographer with director Otis Sallid), Cruel Intentions The Musical, and Ars Nova's upcoming immersive theater experience, KPOP (Fall 2017)

MIKE FITELSON (Writer/Co-Creator) is the executive director of the United Palace of Cultural Arts (UPCA) and original producer of The Hip Hop Nutcracker. He is also the co-creator of the show with Jennifer Weber, adapting the story and supplying the images for the scenery. Fitelson has worked to build the arts community of Northern Manhattan for over a decade. He co-founded the community's annual arts festival, the Uptown Arts Stroll in 2003; served in every capacity of the Manhattan Times, the bilingual community newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood, from 2002-2011.

Eva Price (Executive Producer) is a Tony Award-winning producer whose credits include over 15 Broadway plays, musicals, and concerts. She is a member of The Broadway League's Board of Governors and was named one of Crain's NY 40 Under Forty Rising Business Stars. Current and notable productions include: Dear Evan Hansen (6 Tony Awards); On Your Feet! (The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan); Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway!; Peter and the Starcatcher (5 Tony Awards); Colin Quinn Long Story Short (directed by Jerry Seinfeld); Annie (Tony-Nominated Musical Revival); The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino (Tony-Nominated Play Revival); Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking; The Addams Family (starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth); as well as several solo shows and critically acclaimed concerts starring The Temptations & The Four Tops; Kathy Griffin; Lewis Black; and Hershey Felder. Recent off-Broadway projects include KPOP (Ars Nova), Cruel Intentions The Musical (Le Poisson Rouge)the Drama Desk-nominated Found (Atlantic Theater Company & Philadelphia Theater Company); Benjamin Scheuer's award-winning The Lion (Drama Desk winner, Off-West End winner for Best Musical); and Bess Wohl's critically acclaimed Small Mouth Sounds (Outer Critic's Circle Award). International and Touring Credits include: The Hip Hop Nutcracker, featuring Rap Icon Kurtis Blow, Carefree: Dancin' with Fred and Ginger (Directed/Choreographed by Tony Winner Warren Carlyle), as well as The Magic School Bus, Live! The Climate Challenge; Ella, a bio musical about the life and music of Ella Fitzgerald; 'S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical; Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona The Musical; Irving Berlin's I Love A Piano (National Tour and Japan); The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Private Jokes, Public Places (London). For five years Eva worked as an assignment editor and coordinating producer for special projects at ABC News, spending her last year producing and reporting on stories relating to Broadway for ABCNEWS.COM. Upcoming: Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill.

A hip-hop legend, Kurtis Blow was 20 in 1979, when he became the first rapper to be signed by a major label. Mercury released "Christmas Rappin'," and it sold more than 400,000 copies, becoming an annual classic. Its gold follow-up, The Breaks, helped ignite an international "Rap Attack." He released 10 albums in over 11 years: his full-length debut, Kurtis Blow; his second, Deuce, a Top 50 Pop album and a big hit across Europe; Party Time featuring a pioneering fusion of rap and gogo; and Ego Trip, including the hits "8 Million Stories," "AJ" and "Basketball." In 1985 he released America, featuring "If I Ruled the World," a Top 5 hit on Billboard's R&B chart; Columbia/Sony recording artist Nas debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Pop Album chart with a cover of the song in 1997. For more information, visit KurtisBlow.com.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, N.J., is America's most diverse performing arts center, and the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey - where Great Performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the state's and the world's best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted nearly 10 million visitors (including over 1.5 million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents.

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