Nutcracker in the Lower

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If neither Balanchine's classic choreography nor the Yorkville Nutcracker’s Upper East Side pomp are quite your style, trek downtown for this production at the Henry Street Settlement. Artistic director Daniel Catanach's Nutcracker features color-blind casting and pairs neighborhood kids onstage with seasoned professionals. The resulting feel-good energy is contagious, with glowing parents and rapt little ones alike audibly appreciative of the culturally attuned touches like kids dancing salsa at Clara’s Christmas Party and an African dancer substituting for the Arabian one usually featured in the Land of the Sweets. Original hip-hop beats are layered over parts of Tchaikovsky’s score. — Rebecca Milzoff