Butler Ballet: The Nutcracker

Butler Ballet: The Nutcracker at Clowes Memorial Hall

Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles return to Butler Ballet's stage, adding a playful chapter to the holiday spectacle. On Sunday, December 6, at 5:00 PM, Butler Ballet: The Nutcracker fills Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis with dancing, costumes, scenery and pyrotechnics. It is a full ballet evening, the kind that gives the season a real destination instead of another night on the couch.

Then there's the sound. Tchaikovsky's score is the heartbeat of the ballet, and here it comes with the Butler Ballet Orchestra and the Indianapolis Children's Choir, directed by Richard Auldon Clark. Live musicians and young voices add warmth, texture and a little goosebump energy that a playlist can't touch. When the music rises and the dancers answer it, the story stops feeling like something you remember and starts feeling like something happening right in front of you.

Best of all, this is a night made for sharing. Bring family, friends or that one person who always says they want to do something festive. You'll trade glances when the scenery transforms, laugh when Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles return for 2026, and talk about favorite moments on the way out. Butler Ballet presents its own Nutcracker at Clowes December 3–6, and the December 6 performance gives you a chance to make the holiday feel bigger, brighter and more personal. Pick your seats, plan your evening, and reserve your place at Butler Ballet's Nutcracker.