Special guest honoured at 85th anniversary of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet opened the 85th edition of the Nutcracker on Friday.

And for Sunday’s matinee, there was an extra special performance planned for the anniversary. 

Lily Guberman, who turns 103 years old next month, is an original member of the Winnipeg Ballet Club. She danced during the first year of what became the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1953.

Guberman made her return to the stage for a special Nutcracker walk-on performance.

“It’s very flattering, very complimentary. And very, I don’t know if I’m deserving of it, but it’s wonderful,” said Guberman.

“She was one of the first dances that Gwenyth and Betty involved or invited to join their troupe,” said artistic director André Lewis. “The Winnipeg Ballet Club it was called at the time.  So, it’s really a cornerstone for us. It’s wonderful to have her, I mean, she’s coming, and she’s with us and she’s celebrating our 85th anniversary, so I think it’s wonderful.”

The Nutcracker has become a major part of Winnipeg’s artistic culture, and a must watch around the holidays. 

With the show running this year until Dec. 28, audiences have already been pouring in.

This is the last run for artistic director Lewis, after 30 years at the helm, and he says that year in and year out, Winnipegers still support the show because it’s so deeply rooted in the fabric of the community.

“Although it respects the tradition of the traditional version in the snow scene in Act 2 in Russia over 100 years ago, it’s set in Winnipeg at the turn of the last century, so it does relate to Winnipeg to a large degree and people connect with that, and that’s what I think has made it popular,” Lewis said.