A local dance school will bring holiday magic to life this week through their annual production of holiday favourite, ‘The Nutcracker’.In Motion School of Dance are currently the only school on the Island offering the traditional ballet. Director Lizz Pimentel said the school wanted to put on the production and were always looking for “the next thing” to make them stand out.“‘The Nutcracker’ is such a huge tradition everywhere else in the world,” Ms Pimentel said. “So we thought let’s give it a shot and see how we make out.”She spoke with The Royal Gazette amid one of the busiest performance weeks of the year as dancers, teachers and choreographers were undergoing hours of practice, costume fittings and dress rehearsals.She had to pull herself away from e-mails and phone calls to talk about the highly anticipated holiday performance, taking place at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium tomorrow and Friday night at 7pm.Ms Pimentel said the school’s first attempt at ‘The Nutcracker’ was in 2009. They performed just the final act, incorporating jazz, tap and other dance styles.The audience reaction was amazing and the ambience was “magical” for the holiday season, she said.“It’s tricky because it’s a busy time of year for everyone, but it was well received.“The amount of people that would be bringing it up to me was incredible, so I said okay and we did it again last year.“I am always looking how to improve from year to year and what we have done this year is brought back a few alumni of ours who are overseas pursuing professional dance careers and we have a male dancer as our lead nutcracker. He is going to do some pas de deux [a dance for two] work.”In Motion School of Dance was founded by Ms Pimentel 16 years ago.“Each year I am gearing for bigger and better things, new experiences,” she said. “I never want them to feel limited because they live in Bermuda.“I have always initiated new styles of dance and new concepts of dance. I feel like In Motion is one of the innovators of dance on the Island because we take risks, step out and explore new ideas and things that have previously not been offered on the Island.”She said the school sent promising young students overseas to take part in workshops with internationally renowned teachers and choreographers. The school also has “a huge commitment” to providing dance students with the best teachers to help them reach their full potential.She said she never wants her students to leave the Island to pursue a career abroad and feel lost or at a professional disadvantage “because they come from a small island”.Ms Pimentel said their annual performances were a way for the school to give back to the community, while also giving the dancers greater exposure.Her dancers took part in the MarketPlace’s annual Christmas parade and also performed at the Bermuda National Trust St George’s Walkabout earlier this month.Ms Pimentel said: “It’s essential for the community to see that dance is important, the arts are important in a society. It’s also important for the community to see what these children are putting in.“They are putting in hours of their lives to prepare and do this and it gives them something positive in their lives, especially these teens because things are rough, they have a lot to deal with and this gives them an outlet where they feel this is a family for them.“They can feel gratification for accomplishing a performance, putting themselves out there and doing a good job.”She said the show would feature scores of the company’s more experienced dancers, who put at least 20 or more hours of dance a week.It’s a communal effort for the performers to make sure that every one in the audience leaves feeling a little more of that holiday spirit.Ms Pimentel said: “We want people to leave with a feeling, that they have some time to not worry about the hustle and bustle of the holiday experience and feel they have stepped into a magical place where they can be entertained and become one with others on stage.“It’s also a bit of an escape from reality for the hour-and-a-half performance time and a chance for people to see there are some hard working dancers out there. We want to show people a quality of dance that is comparable to or on par with other ballets internationally.”Tickets $35, or $60 for patrons, are available at www.bdatix.bm.