The Hip Hop Nutcracker featuring rap music legend MC Kurtis Blow as guest MC comes to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center this December!

The inaugural tour, produced by NJPAC, spans 11 American cities starting in November – Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, St. Paul, MN, and Charlotte, NC, among them –  before concluding with a two-city tour of Russia, including Moscow, from Jan. 12-17, 2016.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker is directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber, artistic director of the all-female hip-hop crew Decadancetheatre in Brooklyn. It is adapted to today’s New York by Mike Fitelson, executive director of UPCA – the work’s original producer – and includes hip-hop interludes remixed and reimagined by DJ Boo and violinist Filip Pogády.

For its stop at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center on December 17, The Hip Hop Nutcracker features special guest MC Kurtis Blow, one of the founders and creators of recorded rap music.

“Last year, the world premiere of Jennifer Weber and Mike Fitelson’s The Hip-Hop Nutcracker was a unique holiday event that attracted hip-hop fans, families, and classical music and dance audiences – so many different people in our community – under one roof. This Nutcracker’s dance crew, along with rap legend Kurtis Blow, simply electrified our building,” said David Rodriguez, NJPAC’s Executive Vice President and Executive Producer. “We can’t wait to bring this new classic to audiences across the country and wrap up the tour in Tchaikovsky’s homeland.”

The Hip Hop Nutcracker is an evening-length production performed by a supercharged cast of a dozen all-star dancers, DJ and violinist. Through the spells cast by the mysterious Drosselmeyer, Maria-Clara and her prince, Myron, travel back in time to the moment when her parents first meet in a nightclub. Digital scenery transforms E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story of a palace of sugarplums into a romance set in 1980s Brooklyn. The dance work celebrates love, community and the magic of New Year’s Eve.

Members of the creative team include Taeko Koji (Associate Director/Choreographer), Andrew Diaz (set), Whitney Anne Adams (costumes), Burke Wilmore (lighting) and Moe Shahrooz (video design).