‘Hip Hop Nutcracker’ Fundraiser to Bring Jazz to Barracks Row

Locals can listen to jazz, mingle with neighbors and support the “Jazz and Hip Hop Nutcracker” tomorrow (Saturday).

A concert and food event at Momentum Dance & Fitness Studio at 534 8th St. SE will support the 15th annual performance of the dance created by studio owner Roberta Rothstein.

Food from the 8th Street SE restaurant Tash and rum drinks will be served, and the Brazilian and American jazz quartet Batida Diferente will play at the event scheduled for 8 to 11 p.m.

Proceeds will benefit the “Nutcracker,” which is set to be performed next month by more than 35 children and adults of all technical levels.

“This is not your mother’s ‘Nutcracker,'” Rothstein said. “It’s an original script about transformation through the arts.”

In this version of the classic, a wizard gives two alienated but talented youth “gifts that help them create the rest of the show from their imaginations,” Rothstein explained. It will be performed at Wilson High School on Dec. 13 and 14 and at the Publick Playhouse in Cheverly on Dec. 20 and 21.

This year’s dance will be set to a combination of Duke Ellington’s version of “The Nutcracker Suite” and contemporary hip-hop and pop by Michael Jackson, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and others.

For more information on the fundraiser and the “Nutcracker,” visit Momentum’s website.