A Sweet Treat For The Entire Family: Miami City Ballet’s Holiday Production Of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker

2011 Performances:

Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami ● December 15-18

Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale ● December 21-24

A Nutcracker doll will come alive, a Sugar Plum Fairy will dance, snowflakes will fall and smiles from children of all ages will rain down as Miami City Ballet, Florida’s internationally-acclaimed company under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella, presents its enchanting holiday production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.

Miami City Ballet School students From Miami-Dade and Broward Counties to Perform With MCB’s Internationally-Acclaimed Dancers!

Based on the story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is a captivating tale of a little girl’s Christmas Eve dream about a handsome prince, a mouse king, toy soldiers and dancers from faraway lands set to the beloved music of Tchaikovsky, brought to life by a cast of more than 100 dancers and children.

Nothing short of a Broadway spectacular, the production features glorious sets, lavish costumes like the ones worn by the Arabian and Chinese dancers, magical special effects, such as a Christmas tree that soars from twelve to thirty feet tall, and fanciful choreography that takes the spectator on a magical journey to the Land of Sweets. 

With its sumptuous décor and dazzling character dance numbers, Miami City Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is a must-see holiday extravaganza for everyone young and old: children, parents and grandparents! 

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Performance Schedule & Information:

● Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Ziff Ballet Opera House

1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 17 at 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, December 18 at 1:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

● Broward Center for the Performing Arts

Au-Rene Theater

201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale

Wednesday, December 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 22 at 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Friday, December 23 at 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 24 at 1:00 p.m. 

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Tickets Available At:

● Miami City Ballet

2200 Liberty Ave., Miami Beach

(Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.)  

305-929-7010; toll-free: 877-929-7010

www.miamicityballet.org

● Adrienne Arsht Center

1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami 

305-949-6722

www.arshtcenter.org

● Broward Center

201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale 

954-462-0222; toll-free: 1-877-311-7469

www.browardcenter.org

Tickets range in price from $20 to $68. 

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Miami City Ballet performs in the "Tri-County" South Florida area; in Broward County at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, in Miami-Dade County at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and in Palm Beach County at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Miami City Ballet is presented as the resident ballet company at the Naples Philharmonic Center in Naples, Fla. The company also tours extensively.

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Bienvenidos a Miami y Sus Playas

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Celebrate The Holidays With Exciting Events At Zoo Miami

This holiday season Zoo Miami is hosting a myriad of exciting and fun activities for everyone. Enjoy a Holiday Hoedown, eight nights of Zoo Lights, Dinner with Santa, and watch the animals open their special holiday gifts!


Zoo Miami is located at 12400 SW 152 Street, Miami. General zoo admission is $15.95/adult and $11.95/child (3 -12) plus tax. Children under 3, Zoo members and parking are free. Zoo Miami’s regular hours are 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; ticket booths close at 4 p.m.


The Holiday Hoedown, Zoo Lights, Dinner with Santa are special events with separate admission prices. To save time, buy tickets online at www.zoomiami.org.  

Holiday Hoedown

Alligator Ron's Holiday Hoedown is a fundraiser for Zoo Miami’s up-coming exhibit, Florida: Mission Everglades, set to open in 2014. It will take place on Dec. 3 at Green Glades Ranch (21111 SW 16 St., Weston) from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.


There will be live music from the country band Shadow Creek, an open bar, and great BBQ all to benefit the Florida: Mission Everglades. Since it is a hoedown in December, the attire requested is Holiday Western Wear. Light up cowboy boot mugs will be sold for a $20 donation.


Main event tickets are $150 each and VIP tickets are $250 each. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.holidayhoedown.com. 

The lighted giraffes at Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights

At Zoo Miami, guests can enjoy beautiful animal-shaped lights as they stroll zoo walkways during the 8 nights of Zoo Lights, have Dinner with Santa, and watch the animals open their specially-prepared gifts during Holiday Gifts for the Animals.


The zoo’s glorious grounds come to light for eight brilliant nights during Zoo Lights, Dec. 16-23 from 7 p.m.-10 p.m. (ticket booths close at 9:30 p.m.). Guests can enjoy dozens of bright animal-shaped lights along our walkways, listen to wonderful holiday music, sip hot chocolate, munch on delicious cookies, and take a ride on a camel, the wildlife carrousel or the hippo slide (the world’s largest inflatable slide). Included with admission is a pair of 3-D glasses, which will make the Zoo Lights experience even more engaging and amusing. 


General admission is only $5 per person plus tax. Food, beverages, camel rides, carrousel and hippo slide are all available at additional costs.

Dinner With Santa

Dinner with Santa will take place on Dec. 17, from 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Bring the kids to meet him before he has to rush back to the North Pole!  Enjoy a delicious holiday dinner with the family, photos with Santa, a holiday plush gift and holiday craft-making for the little ones! 

Dinner with Santa admission includes parking, entry to Zoo Lights from 7 p.m.-10 p.m. and a classic holiday menu of fresh roasted turkey with homemade gravy, baked ham, candied sweet potatoes with melting marshmallows, herbed buttery carrots, homemade cranberry sauce, dinner rolls with butter, homemade seasonal pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing, strawberry-infused lemonade, and cranberry mint-infused water.


General admission is $39.95 per adult and $33.95 per child ages 3-12. Zoo members are $36.95 per adult and $30.95 per child ages 3-12. Children ages 2 and under are free. To make a reservation, please call 305-251-0400, Ext. 84941.

Gifts for the Animals

Another fun family activity is Holiday Gifts for the Animals!  Every weekend in December, including Christmas Day, watch the animals joyfully open holiday gifts prepared by zookeepers and volunteers. The animals enjoy opening up their enriching gifts and visitors will be entertained watching them! See schedule below for details.


Saturday December 3
10:30 a.m.: Great Indian hornbills at Wings of Asia will receive papier maché ornaments filled with meaty treats.
1:30 p.m.: Pygmy hippo will eat giant red and green popsicles.

Sunday December 4
10 a.m.: Jaguars will get their own holiday tree – an Australian pine tree with all of the trimmings including catnip!
2 p.m.: Asian bear will receive a gift box filled with treats.

Saturday December 10
10:30 a.m.
Great Indian hornbills at Wings of Asia will receive papier maché ornaments filled with meaty treats.
11:30 a.m.: Lions will get red and green ice treats.
3 p.m.: African elephants will get giant candy canes.

Sunday December 11
10:30 a.m.: Tigers will cool off with their holiday ice treats.
2 p.m.: Gorilla will receive their own holiday popsicles.

Saturday December 17
11:30 a.m.: Santa will deliver sacks filled with treats for the Orangutans.
1 p.m.: Asian elephants will get a giant holiday ribbon.

Sunday December 18
12:30 p.m.: Meerkats will receive a gift box filled with bugs!
2:30 p.m.: Great Indian hornbills at Wings of Asia will receive papier maché ornaments filled with meaty treats.

December 24, Saturday
10:30 a.m.: Great Indian hornbills at Wings of Asia will receive papier maché ornaments filled with meaty treats.
1 p.m.: Asian elephants will get edible holiday ornaments.
2 p.m.: A holiday tree with all of the trimmings will be delivered to Amazon & Beyond for the agouti, chestnut-mandibled toucan, great curassows and black-throated magpie jays.

Sunday December 25
1:45 p.m.: Chimpanzees will receive a holiday surprise!
3 p.m.: African elephants will receive their own giant holiday tree!

Saturday December 31
11:30 a.m.: New Guinea singing dogs will receive New Year’s ball treat dispensers.
1:30 p.m.: Warthogs will get New Year’s decorated treat boxes.

Sunday January 1
2 p.m.: Sun bear will receive treat boxes for the New Year.
3 p.m.: African elephants will get papier maché animals.


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Holiday Magic Returns To Dadeland Mall With the Santa Photo Experience

The Santa Photo Experience at Dadeland Mall began its annual run on Nov. 18 when children can be photographed with Santa Claus through Dec. 24 in the Center Court.

Santa’s Photo Experience hours can be found by visiting www.simon.com or on Facebook.

“There is always a great deal of entertainment and fun at Simon malls during the holiday season, but the Santa Photo Experience is something generations of families count on every year,” said Humberto Maldonado, director of mall marketing for Dadeland Mall.

Dadeland Mall

Something extra fun this season is the Cutest Santa Photo Contest, designed to find the most adorable children’s photo with Santa! The Cutest Santa Photo Contest will be hosted on Dadeland Mall’s Facebook page.

Entering the contest is easy; simply post your favorite photo of your kid with Santa on the Santa Photo App on Dadeland Mall’s Facebook page between Nov. 1 and Dec. 14 at noon. The winner gets a visit from Santa Claus before Christmas Eve, with a sleigh full of prizes valued at more than $2,000. (Details, important guidelines and Official Rules for the contest can be found at Dadeland Mall’s Facebook page.)

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The 15th Annual “Miracle On 136th Street” Holiday Parade at The Falls

The Falls 15th annual Miracle on 136th Street Holiday Parade will soon be marching its way into South Florida to kick off the most wonderful time of the year with a special guest starring as Grand Marshal.

Miracle on 136th Street takes place Saturday, Nov. 19 at 4pm at The Falls (Center Court), 8888 SW 136 St., Miami. More info at 305-255-4571, www.simon.com or on Facebook. The event is free and open to the public.

The celebration will include Santa’s first appearance of the season, along with internationally recognized costume characters, marching bands, motorcycles, clowns, vintage cars and local celebrities.

Parade starts at the east end of The Falls in front of Bloomingdale’s and will travel the entire length to the center, west to Macy’s.

Following the parade, The Falls officially kicks off the holiday season with the lighting of their more than one million white lights in the gardens that line the shopping area. The holiday lights will be on display through Jan. 6, 2012.

This year, the parade will benefit the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education, an innovative learning, teaching and training initiative dedicated to elevating the quality of early care and education in Miami-Dade County and beyond.

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Christmas with the Chimps at Lion Country Safari

Watch Santa Make a Special Delivery!

Lion Country Safari, America's first cageless zoo, will celebrate the annual Christmas with the Chimps on December 22 beginning at 10:30am. For more than 20 years, Santa Claus has visited man's closest relative at Lion Country Safari's Chimp Islands, bearing wrapped gifts for the chimps. This is the only opportunity throughout the entire year that guests can get out of their vehicles to watch the chimps receive presents. Watch the excitement as some chimps toss the gifts back Santa's way too!!

"The chimpanzees are as excited as you or I about receiving their Christmas presents," says long-time Wildlife Director Terry Wolf, who has worked most closely with Lion Country Safari's chimps. "The fact that they are such highly intelligent primates makes it necessary for us to always go that extra mile to provide them with highly stimulating environmental enrichments. This is a benefit for the staff and chimps. Kind of like Macy's traditional Thanksgiving Day Parade, Lion Country Safari's annual Christmas with the Chimps is our traditional kick-off of the holiday season. This is one of those enrichments that both chimps and humans particularly enjoy," says Wolf.

Attendees need to arrive by 9:45am to allow time to make it through the preserve to the chimps' playground by 10:30 for the present delivery.

Live From Hollywood: Taubman Ice Palaces Bring the Magical World of Narnia to Dolphin Mall!

The holiday motion picture event, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes alive at 16 Taubman malls with an immersive and interactive experience, shared with the stars of the film through live streaming from Los Angeles.

The young stars of the holiday motion picture event The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are set to kick off the holiday season in grand fashion by hosting a nationwide 16-city lighting ceremony via live satellite, for the groundbreaking, multi-sensory, new Ice Palaces created by Taubman Centers, featuring scenes from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The ceremony will illuminate Dolphin Mall and other Taubman malls across the country simultaneously as families and fans everywhere gather together in celebration.

On Friday, November 12 at 7 pm, the young stars from the movie, Georgie Henley (Lucy Pevensie) and Will Poulter (Eustace Clarence Scrubb) will give holiday revelers the first look at the Ice Palaces and their highly anticipated film streamed live from Beverly Center in Los Angeles. The event will be simulcast to 16 Taubman centers across the country, including Dolphin Mall, where children will wave LED wands to collectively illuminate the Ice Palaces. The celebration opens the free exhibit for all to experience, ushering in the holiday season and the arrival of Santa Claus.

Dolphin Mall has numerous special activities before the live streaming of The Chronicles of Narnia: interactive DJ with plenty of games, music and sing-a-longs; holiday face painter for the children; snow cone machine and Dolphin Mall's very own Snowman from the North Pole.

The Ice Palace Offers a Memorable Narnia Experience for All
Shoppers can experience the enchantment of the Ice Palace and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at Dolphin Mall from November 12 through December 24. The exhibit, inspired by the magic of winter, features a color changing, 30-foot Ice Palace, encircled with a series of majestic arches and smaller globes that appear to be carved from ice and will immerse visitors with magical vignettes from the land of Narnia. As they walk through falling snow inside the structure, guests will encounter life-like figures portraying scenes from the film and exclusive movie footage integrated in an exciting video show.

The Ice Palace was designed and produced for Taubman by Global Experience Specialists (GES). The all-audience 3D movie unfolds on the high seas and on magical islands, as Lucy and her brother Edmond, along with their cousin Eustace embark on an incredible adventure aboard the ship the Dawn Treader. The movie opens nationwide on December 10.

When visitors enter the Ice Palace's largest dome, they are greeted with falling snow and a captivating light show. The journey continues as guests can sit on the Ice Palace throne that's cool to the touch, and leave their handprint behind on the interactive ice arch, which features the paw prints of famed Narnian creatures.

Special for Opening Day
The first 200 visitors to the Ice Palace on November 12 will receive a voucher for a free commemorative photo with Santa that can be used that evening or anytime prior to November 24. The first 400 children will also be given a LED wand to help light the Ice Palace.

Finally, guests can take home a piece of their Ice Palace adventure with a photo in front of the Ice Throne. Purchase a standard photo package with Santa or in front of the Ice Throne and receive a promotional certificate from SeeHere.com, Fujifilm's photo printing, gifting, and sharing website, for a bonus photo ornament or a photo mug. Purchase a hi-res photo CD package and receive a promotional certificate from SeeHere.com for a bonus canvas photo tote bag. American Airlines is the official airline sponsor for the event. For more information about the Ice Palace opening event at Dolphin Mall visit: www.shopdolphinmall.com.

Dolpin Mall is located five miles west of Miami International Airport, at 11401 NW 12 St.