Stacey and I have been given the wonderful opportunity to capture "The Nutcracker" as performed by the Wausau Dance Theatre a number of years now.  Between photographing it and taking Lauren twice, we have probably seen the live production about 7 - 10 times.  Yet, I still look forward to coming back every year.  I am continually amazed at the grace and elegance that the dancers have.  It always renews an appreciation of a different art-form, and stretches our abilities as photographers.  What made this year extra exciting was that it was the 40th Anniversary production by the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet.  Needless to say they pulled out all the stops for this special occasion by bringing in international guest dancers Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky. 

At this point you may be asking how two Minneapolis wedding photographers end up shooting a ballet in central Wisconsin.  Stacey is originally from Wausau and we had shot a wedding there a few years back for Alicia and Mark.  Mark runs the lighting for the Grand Theater in Wausau and has worked on the production of the ballet before.  Long story short, they saw his wedding pictures and were looking for a similar style of coverage for their next production.  We jumped in not knowing what we were getting into, but couldn't have been happier that we did.  Since then, we have covered a number of their ballets and have had the privilege of getting to know Madame Karkar (the founder of CWSB), along with her daughter and son who head up WDT.  They always treat us so well, and while doing so, Lauren has developed a little crush on Patrik.

Now that you know the back story, why don't we get on to the good part, PICTURES!  We have posted a few of our favorites below, and have also put together a SLIDESHOW with some of the highlights of this year's ballet!  We would like to thank Annaluna and the rest of Wasuau Dance Theatre for having us capture this special 40th Anniversary production! 

P.S.  If you want to take a look at some of last year's highlights, you can find them HERE!