Sensory-Friendly Nutcracker — Columbia Dance at Skyview Concert Hall

Sensory-friendly: lower music volume, house lights left dimly lit, shush-free audience free to enter and leave, assigned seats with a one-seat buffer around each group and empty rows in front and behind; pre-visit story PDF on columbiadance.org. Tickets non-refundable; online sales end 2 hours before the show, then at the door.

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About this adventure

Columbia Dance, the Vancouver dance school and company, sets The Nutcracker in 1840s Fort Vancouver, and its Friday-evening show is a sensory-friendly performance. The music is played at a lower volume, the house lights stay dimly lit and the audience is shush-free, so children can get up, come and go and make some noise. Seats are assigned, with an empty seat on each side of every group and the rows in front and behind left empty. The ballet keeps Tchaikovsky's score, the tutus and the party scene, but the party takes place in the Chief Factor's dining room at the fort, where Dr. John McLoughlin brings in a fur trapper whose tales inspire young Cecilia Douglas's dream: beavers fighting fur trappers, dancing wapato plants and Oregon Trail children arriving by covered wagon. Columbia Dance has worked with historians, local tribes and Fort Vancouver staff on the story since 2019. Students from Level 1A up dance in it. The show lasts about two hours, including a 20-minute intermission, and the company posts a pre-visit story so children know what to expect. Online ticket sales close two hours before the show, and tickets are then sold at the door.