{"id":440041,"date":"2025-12-11T12:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/440041\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:13:15","slug":"north-central-ballet-debuts-sensory-friendly-nutcracker-in-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/440041\/","title":{"rendered":"North Central Ballet debuts sensory-friendly Nutcracker in Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Central Ballet will present its first sensory-friendly performance of The Nutcracker in an attempt to make the holiday classic more accessible for people with autism, sensory processing disorders and others who benefit from a gentler theatrical environment.<\/p>\n

The Gentle Nutcracker, held at the I.M. Terrell Performing Arts Center, will feature 50% softer lighting, lower sound levels, flexible seating, nose-dampening headphones and fidget items. Audience members can also step out into the lobby as a designated calm zone to take breaks during the show. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly our responsibility to make that accessible to everyone,\u201d said Les Jordan III, North Central Ballet\u2019s founder and artistic director. <\/p>\n

This marks the first year in Jordan\u2019s 31 years of presenting the classic Christmas ballet that he has offered a \u201csensory friendly\u201d adaptation. Jordan said he was inspired to create the new performance after a mother reached out earlier this year asking if the company offered sensory-friendly shows. At the time, it did not. <\/p>\n

News Roundups<\/p>\n

Catch up on the day’s news you need to know.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

\u201cThe magic of Nutcracker should be accessible to every child and family,\u201d he said. \u201cThis performance removes all those barriers and creates an experience where everybody can feel a part of it and feel involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

To prepare, the company teamed up with MHMR of Tarrant County, a community-based service for youth and adults with mental health conditions. The agency led a two-hour training for the company\u2019s ushers on how to support patrons with sensory sensitivities. Staff learned strategies including putting tape over automatic bathroom sensors, which can startle guests, and adjusting potentially triggering moments in the ballet such as softening the cannon sounds in the battle scene.<\/p>\n

The ballet will still present the traditional Nutcracker ballet for the general public. Jordan said the company hopes to continue offering sensory-friendly shows in future seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this will be very, very popular,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna be able to reach families who have never been able to take their kids to traditional theater before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details:<\/b><\/p>\n

Dec. 14 at the I.M. Terrell Performing Arts Center. 1411 I.M. Terrell Circle South, Fort Worth. Tickets start at $10<\/a><\/p>\n

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.<\/p>\n

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Central Ballet will present its first sensory-friendly performance of The Nutcracker in an attempt to make the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":440042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,347,11321,7711,29068,1596,10929,7371,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-440041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-arts-entertainment","11":"tag-arts-access","12":"tag-arts-district","13":"tag-dallas","14":"tag-dance","15":"tag-fort-worth","16":"tag-fortworth","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}